


AWAKENING

by eaves2319



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Angst, Dark Magic, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Friendship, LGBTQ, Love Confessions, POV Lesbian Character, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Revenge, Trauma, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:20:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eaves2319/pseuds/eaves2319
Summary: Alyssa Claire found herself in the middle of a war between the evil and good. After what happned to her, she would not be the same. She had to make hard choices but she was not alone in this. Her friends were with her and a great love story was waiting for her with the person she least expected. She had no idea what was about to come for her. For all of them.
Relationships: Chiara Lobosca & Original Female Character(s), Merula Snyde/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. Flashbacks

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place many years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Some things are the same with the game and some are not.  
> MC is at 6th grade.

I could feel the harsh wind against my skin all over again. I was trembling, my eyes wide open with shock. I could not force my legs to move closer to his body on the ground. I could hear people around me calling my name but my mind was busy recalling what happened a minute ago. Was it even a minute? How long was I standing still? I heard someone yelling. “ Cover her sight !” I saw a chest in front of me. I couldnt lift my eyes up to meet the person in front of me . That was it ? All these years searching and this was what I got. Now he really was gone. Irreversibly. Did it hurt him? Probably. Someone was shaking my body with a thight grin on my both arms. “ Alyssa, do you hear me ? I am right here.” A softer voice followed after. “ We all are.” I couldn't keep my body straight and fell into the ground. “ Take her back to Hogwarts now !” I could not focus on anything but what I heard just before his body fell and his eyes lost its shine. “Avada kedavra !”  
He was dead. Jacob , my brother, was dead.  
As soon as I opened my eyes, words came out of my lips and my hand reached up for my wand under my pillow. “ Incendio !” Fire started to grow burning whatever it finds on the floor. It almost reached the curtains around the bed. No, I was awake. Nothing was happening. It already happened. “ Aguamenti.” Flames were gone corrupted by water. I took a deep breath. I checked around to find the person who casted the spell. It was Rowan sitting on the bed with a worried look on her face. She looked tired but she forced a smile at me. Her hands slowely rose up in the air. “ It was a nightmare Alyssa. You are alright.” She looked like she didint sleep at all. I blinked rapidly to shake myself out of the effect of the nightmare I just had. It was not really a nightmare though. It was a flashback from what happened two weeks ago. “No , I am so sorry Rowan. I panicked. I… I didn't know what to do. She shook her head . “ I know. Of course you didint mean it. Why dont you wash your face ? “ She sounded genuinely worried. I looked around in our room to adjust my eyes to the light. “ Yes , I better go and get some air too.” She slowely nodded. “ Do you … want a company?” “No , I will be just fine.” I got up to get out of the room. I passed the dungeons to make my way to the lake. It was cold and I had nothing but a long oversized tshirt on me. I didint care. Cold kept my mind busy from thinking about what happened. When I arrived to the lake I saw a shadow of someone sitting a few steps away from where I was standing. I tried to identify who it was but it was too dark for me to see a face.I could tell it was a girl . A smoke came out of the girls mouth and mixed up in the cold air. She looked tiny holding her cigarette and watching the lake in front of her. “ Oh, you found me here too, Claire ?,Buzz off.” Of course it was her. She was the one I did everything I could to ignore, so that what we experienced before my friends came to where Jacob died could not be replayed inside my head. We faced death up close with her. I didn't know how long it took my friends to catch up on us but I could clearly remember she and I were alone against Rakepick. “ You dont own the place you know, Snyde.” I sat beside her and sighed. She didint turn her head to look at me. I wondered if she wanted to ignore me too after that night. “ You have only one talent and it is to annoy me to death, appearently.” I could sense the grin she makes when she usually thought she was being funny. I rolled my eyes . “ Couldnt sleep either?” I looked at her side profile. Her face looked like she was done with everything. Another smoke came out of her mouth. “ Arent you a bright one, Claire. How long did it take you to figure that out?” Why she always had to be so hard? I didint let her get on my nerves as usual. This time I had no interest and energy to argue with her. “ Can I ?” I reached out fort he cigarette she was holding. She reluctantly passed it to me. “ Since when do you smoke ?” She frowned and turned to me “ Mmm… I guess since Jacob died.” I turned my head away from her so that she couldnt see the tears coming down my face. “ So, you are finally facing it then. Instead of denying.” I felt the smoke filling my lungs before I let the smoke come out of my mouth to meet with the air. “You always come here to think?” I was curious about her. I never actually thought about what she was going through since I could only think about the pain I was in. I expected her reply to be sassy as always but her voice cracked and sounded softer than usual. “ I … I do since that day.” I looked at her face and our eyes met. She looked as broken as I was. She probably had it hard too and I heard she casted spells suddenly waking up from her nightmares just like I did from Penny once. She was sharing a room with Ismelda. I deep down felt sorry for Merula. Ismelda could not be as understanding as Rowan was towards me through all this. That was pretty certain. “ Dont be hard on yourself, you know I do too act like a maniac these days. It is the fourth time I almost burned down our room.” I gently smiled at her. She smiled back at me but bit her lip to hide her smile as soon as she realized she was smiling. “ No, Claire, no one can beat your ass at being a weirdo.” I sighed with frustration. She was determined not to share her true feelings with me by hiding behind corny jokes of her. “ I dont care being a weirdo as long as I stay away from your stupid jokes Snyde.” I saw her throwing the cigarette to somewhere on the grass. “ I am going in.” She got up slowly. She was wearing green pyjamas that matches the colour of our house. I suddenly felt the panic grew in me but I had to get used to being alone. My hands looked for my wand in my pocket to feel any safer. “ You know, I can stay if you like.” She nervously took her hand to her hair.She probably saw my tight grin on my wand. “ I guess I need to be left alone for a while before going to bed but I appreciate it. Even if it is you.” Merula let out a soft giggle. I was surprised to hear her giggle. She sounded sweet. “ Whatever, I can't waste my time listening a speech about feelings anyway.Goodnight , Claire.” She turned around after I saw her grin. She didint let me say it back and quickly started walking away. I watched her back as she was making her way to dungeons. I sighed. “ Goodnight to you too, Merula Snyde.” But she was alrady gone.  
“Sleepyhead, time to rise and not shine because a lot of classes waiting for us. Basically it is going to be a torture day.” Rowan kept shaking my bed as I insisted on keeping my eyes shut. “ Fine I will be at the Great Hall I promise.” I murmured . “So … you are actually coming to eat with us? I… I mean sure ! Okay, I will be waiting for you.” Her surprized tone made me realize I havent sit with them for weeks. I heard her footsteps going out of the room and whished myself luck to get through this day.  
When I arrived at the gates of Great Hall, I held my breath for a second. Everyone would look at me and talk about what I went through. I wasnt ready for it but who actually could be? And I was not going to let Rakepick get away with what she has done.I would do anything and everything to get my revenge . But first, I had to go back to being a little normal. I stepped in and immediately noticed people staring at me. I heard some second year Ravenclaws whispers but pretended like nothing happened. I saw my friends sitting close to the end of the hall. I realized how much I actually missed my friends. Penny was sitting beside Edward Lupin and Victoire Weasley. Rowan was facing them and they were all smiling. Beside Rowan, Ben was eating his breakfast. They all were smiling and enjoying untill Victoire's eyes turned to me. Her smile turned into a gentle one. I took my place between Rowan and Ben. All of their eyes turned to my face. I could tell they were all nervous about how to aproach me so I wanted to make it easier for them and sent them a big smile. “ Good morning folks.” Penny smiled widely and chuckled. “ Hi there , Aly. Long time no see ! I missed you so much.” “ I missed you all too.” Ben turned to me. “ I am so happy that you are finally ready to talk to us. We are always here for you.” “ I know and I love you all , but can we cut the crap and eat already? I am starving.” Edward laughed."Thats my girl.” Ben was already focused on eating and Rowan seemed happy about me coming to them after spending two weeks ignoring everyone and crying myself to sleep. As I was eating, my eyes searched for Snyde. I usually never let myself think about her too much for my own good but I was feeling like I want her closer to me after our shared trauma. I rolled my eyes to my own thoughts and caught Barnabys eyes looking at me like I finally lost it. Well, maybe I did. I looked at his side to find Merula but I only saw Ismelda. Was she avoiding the crowd just like I have? “… So I think thats how they got caught making out. To be honest, Sanchez and Flores look cute together.” I was pretending to listen Penny and the gossip she had been dying to share with me. “ You look so distracted. What are you looking for anyway?” My heart started beating fast. “ Nothing. I am just…” There she was. She walked straight to Ismelda's side and took a seat. She looked normal as every other day. There wasnt a sign of tiredness or anything. Instead she looked gorgeous. With her dark red lipstick against her pale skin and smoky eyes , she even looked better. She turned her head to my side. Our eyes met and she quickly looked away and then at the food in front of her. I could feel my cheeks starting to blush so I slowly got up. “ Rowy, lets go to class if you are done.” She nodded and together we starting to walk. I didint look at Merula's side again. But I could feel her gaze at me while passing through. When we arrived at the class,I was already so locked up in my own thoughts about the vaults and Rakepick that I didn't realize Tulip and Merula was sitting towards me until I heard Tulip whispering something to Merula. Merula giggled and shook her head. I wished I could be as skilled as her at hiding what I was actually feeling. Tulip was playing with Merula's hair while Merula was busy picking her books out of her bag. I couldnt help myself thinking if they were a thing or just friends. Deep down inside I hoped for the latter. Was all the things I felt towards the scene in front of me just an effect of what we went through together, or was it all a new found feelings growing inside of me? Merula caught my eyes looking at them and frowned. “ Whats up with you, Claire? You look like you have never seen a great which before. Thinking about it, you actually do everyday.” Rowan sighed beside me. “ Cut it off, Snyde. It is not the time.” A book dropped harshly next to my desk. “ She does, Snyde. She looks at the mirror everyday. Apperently, unlike you.” Penny's voice sounded colder than usual. I was used to hear her sweet high pitched voice. I just shook my head and started turning the pages of the book in front of me. Completely ignoring Merula's face. Whatever was wrong with me, had to be fixed as soon as possible. I turned to Penny and tried my best to smile widely. “ Thanks Penny.” She was looking like a shining ball of light as always. Then Proffesor came in and we all gave our focus to him until the end of the class. I was trying to learn new things as best as I can to perpare myself to all sort of situations. That was the only way for me to be able to overcome all the mess waiting for me and my friends. I had to protect them all. I could not lose another loved one. The next class was Potions. "I might consider murdering Merula this time if she keeps being an ass to you after all the things you went through.” Rowan and I were on our way to Potion class. I rolled my eyes at her. “ Don't worry, she will be for sure, since being an ass is all she could do before I actually cut her in half this time.” We both chuckled.  
She was already in the class, ready to torture me. I took my seat beside her and tried to ignore her but it was more diffucult to do so comparing to the past. The class started and I felt a hand on my leg and looked down to see whose hand was it. “Take this now.” Merula whispered looking directly at the Proffesor and not me. I quickly took the note in her hand. 'Meet me at the common room after you make sure everyone is sleeping. Important.'  
She wanted to meet for what? I lost all my focus on the class but desperately tried to pretend like I was paying attention. Now all I got to do was to wait until midnight. I changed my mind a few times about meeting Merula since she always acted terrible towards me and my friends but ended up giving in the urge to find out what was so important. At night, I made sure Rowan was asleep before I made my way out of the room. I sneaked out to common room to find Merula sitting at the couch already looking bored to death. I sat on the other couch in a way I could face her. “ Well well, my favorite cursed witch finally decided to show up. About damn time, Claire.” Here we go again. Meeting Merula was a mistake. But I was done tolerating her. “ I had to wait until Rowan fell asleep. Are you going to stop acting like a bitch and tell me what the hell is so important?” I was whispering loudly. “ You are in a mood Claire. But I will ignore it and cut to the chase. Do you remember what Rakepick said that night about the R?” I tried to remember it but it was all blurry and the only thing I could remember was how messed up my brother's body looked before he screamed in pain. He was all covered in blood. Rakepick made sure he suffered before killing him. I made a fist thinking about it again. I was going to make sure her death would be from my hands. “ No, not really. What did she say?” Merula's face started to look like she was about to break something. She was as fruious about all this as I was. She looked so sad for a moment but then her expression turned back to being a poker one. “ She said, soon we will face our destiny by the hands of the R. And that R would not let anyone get in their way. She clearly meant a group called R.” I still couldn't remember she ever said that but that was probably because I was shocked at that moment. “So you are saying that they are a group and that Rackepick is not alone in this.” She slowly nodded. She looked terrifying with her sharp stare at the darkness in the room. “ That is exactly what I am saying Claire. She is not alone and we have to work together to bring them all down.” Merula's confession about needing me during the procces shocked me. “ Then we will. I will do whatever it takes to beat her and her colony.” I said firmly. She didint say anything and kept looking at the room for a couple of minutes. We were both knew that we had to be ready for them. We all were in great danger. “ You know… I actually trusted her. In my life, I always ignored trusting people but she helped me a lot and taught me so many spells. I will make her pay. No one plays me like that.” I could see she really was broken and angry, but I had a better reason to end Rakepick. “I am sorry that the great Merula feels that way but she played us all Merula. I think we all should be more careful about who we put our faith in.” She blinked a few times rapidly after I said her name. I liked the way her name sounded even though I only said it a few times in my life. I slowly got up and looked at her. “You look like shit, Snyde. We need sleep.” I turned around and started walking back to my room. I heard her whisper behind me. “ Who is being a bitch now?” I chuckled but didn't turn around. All I wanted to do was to finally sleep without dreadful nightmares.


	2. Puzzles

“ It was obvious that she couldn’t be working alone through all this, she cannot be that strong.”  
Rowan sighed. We were all sitting at the library trying to catch a pattern or figuring out how this R colony worked. Edward stopped looking at the book he's been checking for some clues about what R could mean. We were sure it wasn’t Rakepick since she seemed like she wasn't controlling any group but working for one.  
“ Do you guys wanna know what I think? “ Victoire seemed eager to change the subject for hours.  
“ Do not start with searching for the last cursed vault again and use Merula as a bate ,honey.” Said Penny while closing the book she was reading.  
“ You cant deny it is a good one but no, actually I was going to say her and Aly needs a proper sleep. I mean look at her. She can be my boggart if she keeps looking like this.” Victoire said sarcastically but she was right. I couldn’t sleep because of the flashbacks or whatever the hell they were. I was lucky enough to hold myself back from burning our room though. That was something. All eyes turned to me and I yawned. Rowan looked worried watching me suffer from sleeplessness.  
“ Aly, I am starting to think these are not just nightmares or PTSD . “ Ben held my arm gently to make me look at him. “ I read all things to know about what you may have going through but Rowan is right. It shouldn’t be like this every night. You need to fix this somehow.”  
I shook my head slowly. “ What do you think it is then? My mind plays games with me like I don’t torture myself enough?” Penny reached to hold my hand.  
“ We think that maybe this is a warning or something.” It sounded ridiculous. Rakepick already threaten us with stupid promises about how she will destroy us one by one soon after we figured out she was the snitch. “ I haven’t really thought about it. I can't consantrate on anything really. “ I yawned again.  
“ Someone needs to talk to Snyde about these nightmares. She seems as miserable as you do.” Edward implied loudly and Penny warned him with a sush. “ I don’t know if you noticed dum dum,but Merula is not the one to talk about those things. She is probably busy talking to herself about how she is the strongest witch of Hogwarts in front of the mirror.” Edward chuckled.” I know right? Mirror is the only thing that actually listens to her.” Victoire smiled wickedly. “The only thing comes out of her mouth will be her tooth,if she keeps it that way.”  
My friend's affection for Merula made me laugh but at the same time, I knew it wasn’t all true. She was as desperate as I was, but much better at hiding it than me. “ Lets go to the Great Hall, I am starving.” Ben said and we all agreed. Victoire slapped Ben's arm. “ If the meal is something I like, you ask Murk to a date. Don’t forget our deal.” Ben groaned. “ I thought you forgot about it.” I rolled my eyes at Rowan. She got used to their stupid deals as I have, but I could tell her mind was elsewhere at the moment. Probably thinking about my flashbacks.  
“ You know, I never miss the chance to see you suffering.” Victoire said with a pure joy in her voice.  
At dinner, after I finished my meal, I looked for the pair of violet eyes around. When my eyes caught her sight, I got up to go to her to talk. Penny held my arm.  
“ Mmm… good luck. Try not to get pissed off.” I smiled.  
“ I will try. Thanks.”  
I slowly walked towards where Barnaby, Ismelda , Tulip and Merula was sitting. I sat towards her to look right into her face. She didn’t lift her eyes from her plate.  
“ Oh, nice, my dinner is ruined. What do you want Claire?” Asked Ismelda throwing her chicken wing back to her plate. I ignored her and kept staring at Merula to finally meet her eyes . She looked horrible with the dark circles under her eyes. Have I been looking like this the whole time? We really needed to find a way to fix this. “ What is it , Claire? If you came to mock me, keep it to yourself. You look as bad as me. Even worse I would say.”  
Her voice also sounded tired.  
“ I came here to talk to you about this. We need to find a solution to get rid of whatever is happening. My friends think these cannot be only nightmares. “ Barnaby scratched his head.  
“ I had a nightmare about a huge breads trying to force me to flower them. It was dreadful.” He managed to attract all of our attention to him.  
“ What's it to do with this, may I ask?” Karasu asked. Barnaby looked puzzled.  
“ I thought we were talking about nightmares?" God, why on earth all the strange people had to find me? Merula rolled her eyes. “ Just as I thought you couldn’t be more thick, you surprise me Barnaby. Just like Claire.”  
Barnaby shook his shoulder and took a sip of his drink.  
“ And are you trying to make me work with you? No way Claire, you are literally cursed. Whenever I am with you, some shitshow always follows.”  
“ We both are suffering and can't focus on anything. We will suck at exams if this keeps going on like this.” Ismelda sighed with relief. “ Maybe it is not a terrible idea Mer. Since you screw my nights up every fricking time.” I nodded. Rowan was struggling getting her sleep because of me too. We needed to work together. Deep down I felt excited to see Merula more than usual. Merula sighed with annoyance.  
“ Fine, we will deal with it. I am not happy wandering around like a zombie either.” She said .  
“ Okay then, why don’t we sneak out to the library at midnight? We can go to the restricted section to find something without any interruption.” I said, trying to hide the excitement in my voice. “ Deal.” She said before turning her focus on her plate again.

I sneaked out to the library looking around if someone followed me or saw me. My wand was in my hand and I was ready to defend myself even though everywhere seemed clean. I quickly passed to the restricted section and as soon as I stepped in, I heard someone whisper.  
“ Shh, Claire. Over here! “  
I looked behind the shelves to see the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Merula pulled me to where she's been standing. Seeing her made my heart go crazy and I tripped towards her. I held her arms to save myself from making a trip to the floor. Her face went red, as mine went sheet white. I was never clumsy like that around her before.  
“ I.. I am sorry, I am a little tired.” She fixed her clothes. I might be hallucinating but she seemed shy all of a sudden.  
“ I can see that. Now lets get to work.” Together,we went through all the books we could find about repeating nightmares and visions.  
“ Well, I think you should read this too.” Merula whispered to me keeping her eyes on the book she was holding. I walked up to her and reached to the book. It was about mind controlling and how a wizard can get into another wizard's mind and dreams to communicate.  
“ So do you think Rakepick is playing with us like that?” She seemed thoughtful.  
“ No, I think that maybe we should… go back there to face it. I don’t think it is about Rakepick or her shitty clone or whatever. I think this is about us.”  
Thought of going back there gave me goosebumps immediately. I didn’t know if I was strong enough to face it all again. Merula saw the change on my expression and bit her lip nervously.  
“ I… I am not a fan of the idea either, not because I am scared or anything, but we have to force ourselves to face with it so that we can finally… move on.” She rolled her violet eyes at the end of her sentence.  
“ I am not sure. It could be a lot.” Remembering Jacob's deformed body made me feel sick in my stomach again.  
“ WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING HERE !” Merula and I both jumped and grabbed our wands to protect ourselves from the stranger standing right in front of us. Realizing it is Madam Pince, we put down our wands and looked at each other in fear.  
“ Umm… actually we were –“  
“ I CERTAINLY DO NOT CARE MISS CLAIRE.”  
Merula started to explain but Madam Pince didn’t let her either. “ We are going to see the Headmistress right away the first thing in the morning. “  
We both kept our eyes on the floor. “ Yes mam.”  
Then we both hurried to Slytherin common room.  
“ Bloody hell ! I never should have accepted to come.” Merula said. I frowned.  
“ Do you think I wanted this?” Merula passed me and sat on the couch.  
“ I really am hoping that we won't get detention, but it is as impossible as for you to stop being stupid.”  
“ Oh, always ready to blame me. I am going to bed.” I turned around to head back to my room. I just couldn’t stand her blaming me every time when something happened. I tried to sleep it off knowing it would be such a nice sleep with all the nightmares waiting for me.

Cold wind , Jacob's face, blood coming out of his aching body, Rakepicks evil grin, and the echo of her last words before Jacob's death.  
My eyes flashed open and I took my wand under the pillow. “ You are safe.”  
My mind quickly tried to understand where I was. I was in my own bed. Was she really here ? Was I still dreaming? I tried to find the source of the voice in the darkness. My eyes got used to the dim light and saw her sitting on Rowan's bed. I was confused.  
“ M…Merula ? What are you doing here ? Where is Rowan?”  
She seemed better than hours ago. She must have been slept a little but it was still dark to be sure.  
“ I sent her to my bed. I am sick and tired listening Ismelda's complains every night. We both can't sleep anyway, so I decided to come here.”  
“ Oh, makes sense but… How Rowan reacted to that?” Ismelda wasn’t her favorite person, but apperantly she was desperate to get some sleep after all.  
“ She seemed quite happy about it if you ask me. She gathered her things and went straight for it. It was kinda weird.”  
I sat on the edge of my bed to see her better.  
“ Have you been able to sleep at all?” She nodded. “ A few hours. But I don’t want to get back to sleep. I feel alarmed even though I know we are safe now.”  
I could relate to her so much. “ I know how it feels like. I feel like they are going to surrender us again, out of nowhere.” Merula looked worried. I wasn’t used to seeing her face like that. I wanted to comfort her, but I wasn’t any better than her either.  
“ You mean… the dementors.” I murmured slowly.  
“ Well… yes.” She brushed her messy hair with her fingers. “ I want this to be over, Claire.”  
I wasn’t sure about what I was about to say, but my heart started beating so fast that I could almost hear it. It was ridiculous,but I had to give it a shot.  
“ Merula … if you like, we can … I mean, we can you know … sleep close to each other if it can help both of us to feel safer.”  
I prepared myself to hear tons of heartbreaking stuff to come out of her mouth,but she remained silent. I got more nervous with every second that passed. She finally replied.  
“ I … I think it would be nice. It can work after all.”  
I tried to calm myself as I slowly moved to the side of my bed to give her space on the bed. She got up and crawled beside me . She was wearing black crop top with black leggings. The smell of cloves mixed with nail polish and some other pleasant scent I couldn’t identify filled my nostrils and my heart started going crazy again. I turned red hoping she couldn’t hear my heart or see how red my face was. I looked at her face and saw her gaze at the ceiling. Her face looked like she was blushing too but I couldn’t be sure since it wasn’t that easy to see in the dark.  
“ Lets say that they came… what are we going to do ?” I asked. She turned to me and her eyes searched for something that I couldn’t quite understand. Her eyes softened and she smiled. Either I was starting to losing my mind, or she was actually smiling at me.  
“ We are going to do what we always do Claire.” My brows lifted with question. “ What do you mean?” She sighed and her eyes didn’t leave mine.  
“ We are going to fight back.” I smiled too.  
Not fighting against her but with her? That would be interesting.  
“ Together?” I asked with surprise. “ Together.” She said before shutting her eyes to sleep.

The next day started with me rushing to McGonagall's office after having a quick shower. I already have missed the whole breakfast time and needed to meet Merula in front of our headmistress's office . When I opened my eyes, I found a note instead of Merula on her side of the bed. It was something about meeting her whenever I finally wake up. I was quite surprised to be able to sleep after weeks of agony.  
When I saw Merula waiting for me in the corridor, I could tell it was same for her too. She looked a lot better and her dark circles under her eyes were almost gone. She was wearing black top and plaid green mini skirt under her long Slytherin coat. With her signature smoky eyes, she looked strangely cute. I was sure I turned red looking at her while getting closer to her side. Her cheeks were blushed too against her pale skin and made my heart beat faster.  
“ So, you are finally awake. Lets get our detention and get the hell out of here. Shall we?” She rolled her eyes. I took a deep breath before going in to face McGonagall. We slowly walked in.  
“ Oh, please do come in Miss Claire and Miss Snyde.” We both walked up to her .  
“ Miss Pince filled me about your secret trip to the restricted section of the library at midnight yesterday. I assume you were looking for something so desperately to take such risk.”  
I shook my head . “ Yes, that is correct but we truly are sorry about what we did. We had to find a solution for our sleep problems.”  
“ And instead of consulting someone, you decided to break the rules.”  
“ We were so desperate. It will never happen again. We promise. “ Merula said.  
She was doing her best to look sorry or maybe,she really was. She was too complicated to read. McGonaggall took a sip from her cup and her eyes softened. She was looking right into our eyes when she started speaking.  
“ I realize how destructive this incident you have faced with Rakepick, girls. I would take points from your house immediately, but this time things are more challenging and complicated. Although I still wish you were more reasonable and asked for help instead of sneaking around.” Merulas eyes opened wide.  
“ So we are not going to be punished?”  
“ Oh, you certainly will be, Miss Snyde. But perhaps, that can wait for a while. If you are helpless about all this, maybe you can consider having a trip to Diagon Alley.”  
Merula nodded. “ Actually, it is a brilliant idea. “ Her eyes shined with hope.  
“ It will help you more to find useful things than lurking around restricted sections, I believe.”  
McGonagall's eyes narrowed at the end of her sentence. I kept my eyes on my lap to show her I was sorry for what we did.  
“ Now, I warn you both. If anything happens again, seek for help before trying to solve it by yourselves. Sometimes hardship can be easy to overcome with the help of loved ones. Is that clear ?”  
We slowly nodded and answered at the same time.  
“ Cyristal.” I saw Merula rolling her eyes to our jinx. 

I had to change before we went to Diagon Alley and brush my hair at least, since I rushed this morning and forgot to take care of myself. I went to my room and found Rowan getting ready for her next class. She hugged me as soon as she saw me entering the room. I hugged her back.  
“ Rowy, I am sorry for you had to leave.”  
She pulled back to look at me.  
“ No,I am glad you look a lot better. But how did you manage to sleep? I mean… the problem was me the whole time ?”  
Rowan was my roommate for years and we always got along well, so I had to explain her that it had nothing to do with her.  
“ What? No! Of course it is not about you. Umm… we thought that … if we sleep close to each other, we could feel safe enough to fall asleep.”  
Rowans eyes got bigger with shock. “ You slept in the same bed? And it worked?”  
I nodded. “ Yes, surprisingly enough, it did.”  
“ We will definitely talk about this. Now I have to go to class. I really am happy it worked." She chuckled and winked at me before she got out of the room. I sighed and changed quickly. I tied my black wavy hair in a ponytail and applied some makeup on my green eyes to make them look less tired. I was good to go. I grabbed my wand and prepared myself to a exciting trip with Merula Snyde.


	3. The Cabal

“ So, where are we going exactly? “  
Merula was walking in front of me in the Diagon Alley. People around us were keeping their eyes on us until we were out of their sight. I could feel the panic growing inside of me by the minute.  
“ To Flourish and Blotts. You better hurry, we don’t have the whole day.” I tried to catch up with her steps.  
“ I have never been there before.” She smirked at me . “ I am not surprised. It's for clever folk.”  
I rolled my eyes at her direction, and stopped by her tight grin on my arm. “ Are you blind Claire? It is right here.”  
I took a look at the huge Flourish and Blotts writing in front of me. I could feel blood rushing to my cheeks. “ So what? We are a little pensive these days. You know that.”  
She reached for the door to push. “Whatever.”  
I stepped in after her and saw shelves of books everywhere. There was a lady standing in front of the stairs. She walked towards us when she saw Merula.  
“ Miss Snyde, It is wonderful to see you again. Welcome.” My eyes opened wide. “ You come here often?” Merula slightly smiled at the lady.  
“ Thank you , Madam Villanelle. And yes, I do come here often. There are books that you can't find at Hogwarts and I always look for advantage.” She looked proud.  
“ So that’s where you have been studying and learning different stuff. Sneaky.” She smiled wickedly. “ We are Slytherin, Claire. Now let's start searching for anything we can find about this bloody colony.”  
I found couple of books about the dark groups of whiches and wizards explaining their aims but there were a lot and they all had different goals to achieve. Gold, power, popularity, mutiny… My eyes were gazing through the pages when I noticed a note card. It had numbers written on it.  
-4 3. -7 1 -11 2.  
326 118 1 

“Um… Merula? Look.” I heard her coming near me. She grabbed the book from my hand and stared at the note card with sharp eyes. “ What the hell is this?” I quickly turned pages to find another one, but I noticed a slight circle marks made with a pen around certain words at some pages.  
“This must be a code.” Merula said and put it on the desk between us. “ We should read this one first. Don’t you think?”  
It's been hours of reading all about a group called The Cabal. Their aim was reaching to the greatest power ever existed. The book mentioned the curse vaults and that they couldn't be just myths. The group consisted of seven pure blooded whiches and wizards searching for the vaults. This had to be it. The only thing we had to do was to solve the code.  
“ This must be how they communicate with each other. I bet they don’t even know what each of them look like.” Merula said while holding the card tightly in her palm.  
“ We have to solve this, it is referring to some words in the book but how do we know which one is which?” I said feeling sick.We looked at the numbers again.  
“ The bottom numbers are clearly the pages. The others… I am not so sure.” Merula brushed her fingers through her hair. I looked at the number eleven. A line could be the eleventh line, but it couldn’t contain eleven words in one line…  
“Turn to the page 326.”I said. She opened the page and I looked for the fouth line and then the third word. “ Knockturn.”  
I turned to the page 118 and my finger followed the lines. “ Thursday.” Merula opened the first page and whispered. “Four.”  
I looked at her and we both stared each other in shock.  
“ Merula, these words are not marked. Whoever supposed to see this, hasn’t seen them yet. Today is Thursday.”  
Merula nodded and her violet eyes sparkled. “ It is today. And we will catch them at the Knockturn Alley unprepared.”  
I shook my head. We couldn’t handle them when we had no idea who they were or how strong they could be.  
“We can't expose ourselves. First, we need to be ready and find out about the members.” Merula frowned.  
“ I don’t want to wait, Claire. I will make them beg for mercy.”  
Madam Villanelle approached to our desk. “ Did you find anything you were looking for?”  
We kept staring at each other's eyes. Merula was looking annoyed to the idea of not exposing ourselves. I had to reason with her before she could blow the whole thing up.  
“ Yes , thank you Madam Vaillanelle, we will be on our way now.” I said gathering my stuff off the desk. When we got out, I realized how hungry I was. I tried to think about the places we can go to eat before spying on Rakepicks group.  
“ Why don’t we eat something first, we have hours until four.” Merula shrugged. “ That’s… not a bad idea. Yeah, sure. Why not?” she said. 

“ I wanted Yorkshire Pudding, but this will do for now.” Merula said eating her Sticky Toffee Pudding. I finished eating my beef and looked at the time. We were in the Leaky Cauldron and it was already three.  
“ We should be on our way now, if we want to spy on them.”  
“ I am not going to watch them like a scared little twat. I will face them and make Rakepick pay.”  
Merula looked angry as always. She looked gorgeous with eyes shining bright with anger. “ We can't be reckless like that. We need a plan and face them with our friends. You are not ready to fight them Snyde. We all need to be careful.”  
Her jaw clenched. “ I am ready. What would you know? All you do is to walk around doing nothing but to cry anyway.”  
I could feel the anger taking over me.  
“ You can't stop being an ass, can you?” Tears started coming down my face. I hated myself for having unnecessary feelings for her. She was always awful to me. When she saw my tears, her eyes opened wide and she looked sorry.  
“ I …. I didn’t want to say that. Oh, fuck, Claire. I can't control my mouth sometimes. It's just that … you make me nervous and I … whatever. I am sorry.”  
She looked genuinely sorry. I sighed.  
“ Merula, I thought we were becoming friends… I mean, before finding my brother, you and I got closer and you were actually nice to me, you know? Why are you acting like the old days again?”  
She nervously bit her lip, seemed unsure of herself. “ I want to be nice to you, I just got used to push people away. I even like you, sort of. I just say the wrong stuff all the time.” She suddenly got up from her chair.  
“ Well, lets not waste time talking about feelings like some loser Hufflepuffs shall we?” I shooked my head. She was so damn hard to deal with sometimes.  
“ Fine , but please do not blow this up, Merula. Just spy on them. We will attack when the time comes. “  
She rolled her eyes at me. “ When the time comes, she said.” 

We were waiting at the corner, where we could see the whole street. I covered my face with the scarf we bought on our way. We couldn’t risk them seeing us. There was no one else on the street and hiding surpressed against the wall with Merula's body so close to mine, wasn't helping me to get my shit together.  
“ Ugh, now I have to smell you, Claire. I hate this. I say we go there and kick some ass.” Merula whispered to me.  
“Shut up, Snyde. I smell just fine. What is your problem?” I said.  
“ That’s exactly what I am talking about.” She blushed and my heart went crazy. Maybe , just maybe, she fancied me too.  
“ I am not saying you smell good or anyth…” I put my finger on her lips. “ Shh, here they are.”  
I looked at the two people standing few miles away from us. We didn’t notice them until they started talking. I hoped for them to focus on their conversation rather than their surrendings. Both were wearing black cloaks. The memory of the day Jacob died, started playing in my head. Merula whispered to my ear.  
“Aren't they look like…” I cut her off. “ Yes, dementors. We have to stay calm. Its not happening again. They are just wearing cloaks.”  
I tried to calm myself down and reached for my wand to ready myself for attack. Merula was doing the same.  
“ I am not scared, Claire. I am the most pow-“  
“Shh, I know, yeah. Just listen.”  
I tried to see their faces but it was hard to see with the sun hiding behind the clouds and the trashbins in our way. I tried to hear anything we could use against them.  
“ I cant see shit.” Merula said behind me.  
“ Maybe the dark forest perhaps could be useful.” I heard a man voice saying.  
“ R will be ready to welcome you, you know when to contact us, Zalir.”  
We both turned our heads to each other. It was Rakepicks voice. Merula grabbed her wand and got ready to pop herself out to the steet. I held her arm as tight as I could.  
“ Don’t. Merula, please. We got this. Please just…”  
I knew she would never listen to me, so I had to make her stay by acting like I wanted the great Merula to protect me. It was the only way she would stay.  
“ Stay with me. I … I am scared. I need you.”  
I tried to ignore the sign of anger behind her violet eyes. She stood still until I begged her with my eyes. She sighed and I won.  
“ You are fucking annoying, Claire.” Her eyes softened when I smiled at her.  
“ Not as much as you are Snyde.” I saw Rakepick and the man called Zalir go in separate ways walking quickly down the street. “ We need to head back to Hogwarts” I said. 

  
“So that’s what they have been doing the whole time !” said Penny. We were all gathered in the library to discuss what we learned with Merula.  
“ They didn’t notice you or anything?” Victoire looked confused which was odd for her to do.  
“ We were careful. I know how to become a shadow when I need to be.” Merula replied.  
Remembering how things could have gone if I didin't asked her to stay with me, I rolled my eyes at her. Her lips curled up knowing she was lying too. Tulip started whispering.  
“ I talked to Ben today in class, is it just me or Ben started to act like an actual Griffindor?”  
Ismelda sighed. “ That loner is a creep. He is probably on crack or something. “  
I have noticed the change of Ben's behaviours lately but never got to think about it. He was strangely more cold towards the stuff happening, considering how easily scared he was before.  
“ Things we went through because of this bloody vaults, changed him too. Just like how it changed all of us.” I said looking at their beautiful faces.  
I felt guilty for dragging my friends into all of this, but I could never fight off Rakepick or any of the mental stuff happening without them. And I had to protect them no matter what.  
“ I haven’t changed. I mean, I noticed, I grew bigger lately but I am just the same. Same right? “ Barnaby was huge and he was a gentle soul. I always wondered why he was friends with Merula and her gang .  
“ For once, you could try to be less thick. Just once.” Merula said.  
“ Anyways, I will try to find where they could meet again in the dark forest. And we will have to go on with the trainings too. It wont be easy.” Rowan said looking troubled. I put my hand on her shoulder. “ We will Rowy.”  
Edward grinned and wrapped his arms around Victoire. “ Wanna put some polish on the floors? It’s a muggle thing but hella fun.” I could see the mischevious sparkle in Victoire's eyes.“ Now you are talking Eddy.” Everyone left the library one by one. Tulip and Barnaby were standing in front of me.  
“ Um, Alyssa, I have a question for you. Since we haven’t talked to each other before, I want to get to know you better.” Said Barnaby. Although he was looking like a big tough boy, anyone who look into his eyes could tell how naïve he was. I smiled gently.  
“ Bring it! But, I will ask you something afterwards, deal ?”  
He frowned and a second later, his face brightened up with joy.  
“ Deal! What would you take with you if your house was on fire? You can name one thing and you can't use magic.”  
Tulip giggled and shook her head in disbelief .  
“Why are you hanging out with Merula, Barnaby ?” I asked him genuinely. He stayed quiet for a while.  
“ You don’t know her. At first, I relied on her to find the vaults so I could become strong too. Because, she is the most cunning and strong. Then, she helped me a lot with feeling terrible about my parents. She is the only one who could understand me.”  
He pouted looking at the floor. I knew his parents were death eaters and in Azkaban too, just like Merula's. I felt sorry for him. Merula was excellent hiding her pain but Barnaby appearently was more open about it.  
“ I … never thought about it like that. You can talk to me about it anytime you want. I am here for you.”  
He smiled.“ Thank you Alyssa, but you didn’t answer my question yet. “  
I rolled my eyes. “ A nap, Barnaby, I would take a frickin nap.”  
I turned around and started walking out of the library. I needed some rest. I heard Barnaby shouting behind me. “ I like you Alyssa , you are funny. I like you a lot !”  
Then I heard Tulip shouting before hitting him with what I assumed, was a book. “ Ugh, you like everyone !”

After dinner, I started feeling nervous since I didn’t know if Merula would stay with me again. Rowan was eating across me and I was sure she noticed things like she always does.  
“ Aly, I am not happy staying in the same room with Ismelda , but … if Merula and you can get some rest like this, then maybe this is for the best, for a while.”  
“ Thanks Rowan. I don’t know why but, I felt safe enough to sleep last night. No nightmares either.”  
She looked at where Merula and Tulip was eating. Merula was talking about something and Tulip was listening to her while eating.  
“ Yes, its weird. “  
I turned to Rowan. I wasn’t sure of how to ask this to her but, I had to know. I hoped she wouldn’t figure out my feelings for Merula.  
“ Um… do you know if something is going on with Merula and Tulip? Are they dating or just friends?”  
My heart was beating fast waiting for Rowan to reply.  
“ As far as I know, they are friends of benefits. You know?”  
What the fuck? I felt the jealousy taking all over me.  
“ How would you know? “  
“ Because someone saw them ? Last year, Penny told me that a second year saw Merula and Tulip making out in the empty quidditch pitch.”  
I felt like someone was stabbing me.  
“ Why didn’t you say that to me before?” Rowans eyes opened wide. “ You two always fight each other and she was bullying you all the time. Thought you wouldn’t want to know anything about her.”  
I had to get my shit together or else Rowan could realize what was wrong with me.  
“ By the way, I haven’t told Penny.” I looked at her with question.  
“ What?”  
“ That you are staying with Merula. I thought you wouldn’t want everyone to know. Sometimes Penny can't keep secrets, you know.”  
I sighed. “ Thanks Rowan.”  
I heard Victoire whisper in my ear behind my back.  
“ Your ex is coming right at you.” I looked around and saw Chiara coming towards me. She was the only person I had a relationship with. We had to break up since we started growing apart. I never felt like my head was spinning when I was close to her or never almost had a heart attack with the thought of her touching me like I do with Merula. But our friendship with Chiara wasn’t like before. She only talked to me when she needed something after our break up. And I was cool with it. She came near me and turned to Rowan.  
“ Rowan, can you give us a minute?”  
Rowan nodded and left her place to Chiara.  
“ Is something wrong?” I asked her.  
She was looking nervous brushing her silver hair with her fingers. “ I wanted to say that, I am sorry for not being there for you, after what happened with your brother . I am here if you need anything.”  
She sent me a gentle smile that warmed up my heart. We had beautiful memories with her and I was glad to have her by my side. Just this time, I wanted her by my side as a friend.  
“ Thank you, Chiara. Actually, we are planning to go against Rakepick. If you want to help, you can help by joining us.”  
Chiara didn’t seem surprised. “ I know about your group. I want to help. I wanted to ask you that, actually. I was afraid you wouldn’t want me around.”  
My brows lifted with surprise. “ Of course not! I would be so happy. I don’t want things to be weird between us.”  
I looked at Merula's side and saw her looking right at me. She looked annoyed and turned to Tulip. Was she looking at me the whole time? I got distracted by Chiara's voice.  
“ Me too. I am glad we are okay.” I smiled back at her without saying anything. My mind was full of Merula at that moment. 

When I came to my room, I saw Merula lying on Rowan's bed , looking at the ceiling. Her violet eyes turned to me when I came in.  
“ So, tell me Claire, you and wolf girl are back together right? I am going to cry. It is so romantic ! “ She mocked me.  
I sighed and sat on my bed facing her.  
“ Chiara and I are friends now, Snyde. Why do you care anyway?”  
She insisted on not looking into my eyes. “ I don’t, why the hell would I?”  
I shrugged. “ I don’t know. You seemed interested at the Great Hall today. I saw you looking at us.”  
She made angry noises. “ Like you weren’t looking at Tulip and me.”  
I blushed and got up to escape her gaze and grabbed my pjamas.  
“ I wasn’t.”  
“ No need to lie, you know I am the best witch at Hogwarts and you want to be like me.”  
I turned to her before going behind the closet to change. “ Keep living on dreams, Snyde.”  
When I turned to my bed she was already changed and got ready for bed. “ I hate to say this but, why don’t you come beside me. We had a nice sleep yesterday.” Merula was looking at me waiting for a response. I turned red and tried to calm myself before I faint.  
“ I… I'd like that.”  
She left a little space for me in the bed and I got in. Her cheeks were as red as mine. With her violet eyes and blushed cheeks, she looked so beautiful. “ Goodnight Snyde.” I whispered to her after I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep while feeling like I was at the top of the world.  
“ You too, Claire.” I heard her whisper back.


	4. Merry Christmas

Waking up beside Merula Snyde was a blessing. How innocent she looked curled up on her side of the bed, was nothing, but adorable. Her brows were not frowning, her violet eyes were hidden behind her eyelids, and her lips were slightly curled up with a smile. She was exactly the opposite, looking all peaceful, contrary to times she was awake. I blushed with the thought of kissing her lips. The scent of clove and nail polish mixture filled my nose as I took a deep breath. We had potion class together and I was all ready for it, since I had a very nice nightmare free night.  
“Do you enjoy watching me creepily?”  
My eyes flicked open again with her voice. I was blushing even harder. Great.  
“How long have you been pretending to be asleep, Snyde?”  
Her violet eyes were open, directly focused on my green ones. “ For a while, enough to catch you obsessing over me.”  
I rolled my eyes. “Judging from your silver tounge, you had a peaceful night too.”  
She brushed her hair back. “ You could say that, if sleeping beside you wasn’t a torture, sort of.”  
At first, my heart stopped with the almost confession, but then I thought she was just trying to annoy the fuck out of me. “ I don’t want to miss breakfast, you can talk to yourself as much as you like.” 

On our way to Great Hall, I saw Ismelda and Rowan walking in the corridor. “ Rowy !”  
I quickened my steps towards her. “ Hey there, have you been able to sleep?” I smiled as I heard Merula's steps behind me. “ We both slept like babies, Khanna.”  
Merula was standing behind me as Ismelda was looking angry. “I am getting sick of Khanna, when do you think you will be back to your room?” I looked at Merula, she was all dressed up with her Slytherin cloak and stockings with a hole around her left kneecap.  
“ I am not sure, I am starving and I had enough of Claire already. “ She walked away and Ismelda followed her.  
Rowan and I found Ben sitting alone in the Great Hall. He was looking troubled, with his plate haven’t been touched. “ Morning, what are you doing Ben?” Rowan asked him while we were taking our seats next to him. “ I was thinking about going home for Christmas, you will too, right?”  
I wasn’t sure I would like to be at home these days. My parents were messed up after my brothers death, and it was much more painful for them since I couldn’t remember Jacob as much as they did. I was a little kid when he disappeared. “ I think everyone will, except Merula.” Rowan said. Merula always spent her holidays at Hogwarts all alone. Her parents were in Azkaban and probably she didn’t have anywhere else to go. I wasn’t planning on going either. I could consider buying her a gift, but she would probably mock me.  
“ I will stay, I guess.” I said. Rowan turned her gaze at me. “ Oh, understandable. I would say it would be good for you to spend some time alone, but I don’t think Merula would give you a break.” I sighed because I knew it was true. Penny joined us on our way to potion class. I wondered how it would be like to take the class from Severus Snape. He meant a great deal to Hogwarts and Dumbledore. I always wished to meet them since I read all about the Battle of Hogwarts. They were legends that would never be forgotten.  
Seeing Merula preparing her ingredients next to my seat, got me out of my thoughts. Class was boring and I had to focus on the professor instead of Merula's presence next to me. When it was time for mixing the ingredients, I could swear Merula was staring at me. I stared at her face too before she rolled her eyes.  
“ I would let myself die, rather than drinking one of your potions. You are literally the worst. Now, watch how I do it and maybe you can actually learn something.” Rowan sent her death glares.  
“ Merula, you could actually become the best witch at Hogwarts. If you hadn’t spent all your time miserably asking for attention.” I giggled to Merula's face after hearing Rowan and got back to working on my potion. Rowan never held back herself from Merula when she was being mean to me. I looked at her and thanked her with my eyes to receive her warm smile at me. 

Two days before the Christmas was full of training and searching for the last cursed vault. Merula was always absent and she only appeared when I almost fell asleep. She was up to something and I wanted to ask Tulip about it, but then I gave up. Tulip was always nice towards me but knowing she had a thing for Merula, made my blood boil. It would be better off leaving Merula to do whatever she was doing. The school was decorated and Great Hall was filled with The Twelve Christmas Trees. Soon, everyone would be gone and I would be left alone with my thoughts. I planned to go to library but Penny's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.  
“ Alyssa! Sweety! I will miss you so much. Two weeks will be boring without you.” She said hugging me. I hugged her back and smiled.  
“ I will miss you too, Penny. Happy Christmas.” I saw Victoire Weasley and Edward Lupin coming towards us hand in hand. They had an undenialable attraction between them. Edward was smiling wide while Victoire was looking annoyed. Edward always loved to mess with her and it was cute to watch them together.  
“ Hi guys, we wanted to say goodbye too, have a nice Christmas everyone!” Rowan, Barnaby and Ben were coming towards us too. I had to hold myself from crying. I wanted to beg them to stay but I had to face my thoughts and get over my brother's death as soon as I could. I hugged them all.  
“ I wonder what would happen if I put Imperius Curse on myself?” Barnaby said before Victoire burst out laughing.  
“ How high are you, Barnaby?” Edward asked and Barnaby looked angry. “ I am not high! You guys are just short!” We all laughed and I shook my head. Barnaby was huge, and in trainings, he was powerful, but sometimes, he could be so thick. After saying goodbye to all of them, I made my way to library to find Merula studying all alone. She was so focused on whatever she was reading, she didn’t notice me. I left my books on her table to draw her attention. She lifted her head from her reading and rolled her eyes.  
“ All I want for Christmas, is for you to leave me alone and I guess, it is too much to ask!”  
I took my seat and ignored her. “ Penny left two Wideye Potions for us, in case we need it.”  
“ I can take care of myself, but thanks, I guess.”  
“ Where have you been, Merula? You were absent in all our trainings.” She kept looking at the book on the desk, completely ignoring me. “ I was at the none of your business class.”  
I shut down the book in front of her. “ I am serious.” She sighed. “ You think I am not?” She was the only person who could drive me crazy in seconds. And this time, as many other, wasn’t in a good way. 

The next day was the celebration day at Hogwarts. The feast was a couple of hours later. I was excited, since I have never spent Christmas at Hogwarts. As much as I missed my parents, staying away from them would be better both for me and my parents. When it was time for the feast, I saw the beautiful decorations with snow falling from the ceiling. I was blown away with how perfect everything looked.  
“You are so dramatic, it’s the same Christmas, nothing new. You should have seen how it was like with my parents, when I was little.” Merula came behind me. I turned around to face her. She was wearing baggy trousers with green top. Her hair was less messy than usual. It was obvious she wasn’t that unhappy with the celebration. Her eyes were studying me just like I was studying her. I was wearing my black dress with black boots reaching my upper legs. I had my red coat to keep me warm. Her eyes got darker looking at me and I turned red.  
“ Um… do you want to eat with me ? “ She bit her lips and nodded slowly. When we took our seats, I noticed the Great Hall was not as full, but there were a lot of students decided to stay. After McGonagall's speech, the feast began. There were roast turkey, chipolatas and so many other things.  
“ Flaming Christmas Puddings are all I am about.” Merula said enjoying her pudding. Everything was delicious. I wanted to spend more time with her and decided that this was the best time to ask her.  
“ Do you want to take a walk after dinner?”  
She took her hand to her hair nervously. “ I was going to ask you the same thing. For the first time, I am glad you did something first.” I smiled and nodded. “ Mm… me too.” 

We both were silent on our way to the Forest. I wished there were snow but there was only cold. Merula was lost in thoughts. “ Is something wrong, Snyde?”  
“ I just… it is a tradition to cast the Snow spell in my family. I don’t want this day to end before I get to do it.”  
My eyes grew wide with surprise. “ You know how?”  
“ My mother taught me. It is the only spell she taught me that can't be used to harm someone.”  
Her face was covered with sadness. I wanted to hug her and tell her that everything would be fine. But, deep down, I knew it was a lie.  
“ What else did they teach you?”  
“ Spells that I can protect myself before they were captured. Obviously.”  
I looked at the sky covered with dark clouds. “Will you teach me?”  
She brought up her wand. “ It is a simple spell. I could do it with ease when I was little. I believe you can pull it off. Why not?”  
I smiled widely. We worked on the spell for a while and when I thought I was ready, I focused on the movements of my hand while Merula was watching me. When I completed the spell, snow started to falling down gently from the sky . I chuckled.  
“ Not bad, Claire, not bad.”  
We were both watching the snow falling. When I looked at her blushed face from the cold, she was already staring at me. We kept staring at each other awkwardly.  
“So, why did you decide to spend the Christmas here?” She looked genuinely interested. It was strange to have a conversation without arguing with her.  
“ I… I didn’t want to go home after everything that happened. Why did you?” She sat on the rock she found on our way. I sat beside her. I noticed she was wearing a long black coat. She must have taken it before we left.  
“ My house is empty. I don’t like to spend it with my aunt either.” She was looking at her hands with her brows frowned. I didin't say anything,since I knew her family situation.  
We sat there until we were both really cold and decided to go back.  
On our way back , Merula started walking faster, seemed like she was in a rush.  
“ Are you supposed to be somewhere?” She hesitated before responding.  
“ Frog Choir. Today, we will sing for Christmas.I need to attend to the rehersals.”  
I nodded. Right. Rowan once told me Merula sounded like a Siren with her dangerous vibe and beautiful voice. Today, I had the chance to listen to her.  
“Alright, good luck, Snyde.” She smiled slightly with her cheeks blushed.

I had time before I joined the performance of The Frog Choir, so I decided to prepare a gift for Merula. I could think of many things but, the silver snake shaped bracelet I saw a few days ago, was the best option to give her as a gift. I was going to buy it for myself, but giving it to Merula was a better idea. I made my way to my room to put it in a nice box. When I entered the room, I saw a package on my bed. It had a Howler too.  
“ Our beautiful girl, Happy Christmas, we love you so much. Always be strong and never forget that dark days will be over. You are not alone. “  
Hearing my mom's voice teared me up, I reached for the package and opened it. It was a Remembrall. I smiled with the thought of my family. We deserved better and having Christmas without them felt strange. I wondered how it was for Merula. I wanted to make her forget the absence of her family by distracting her. The gift was just the thing she needed for that.

I took my place near Talbott. He was staying at Hogwarts for a couple of days before leaving, and the only explanation he made was that he needed something done first. He was always so mysterious so I didn’t think much over it. When The Frog Choir started singing, I could hear how beautiful all of them sounded. It was giving me peace. But, when I realized they had all their parts one by one, I couldn’t wait for Merula's turn. When Merula started to sing, her angelic voice filled my ears and left me with goosebumps. Rowan was right. She sounded heavenly. Talbott poked me to get my attention. “ Alyssa, where is your head? You seem like you are going to faint.”  
“ Am I? Oh, no, I am fine, really.” The performance was over and I got up to find Merula talking to other members of The Frog Choir. Her eyes noticed me and kept their focus on my eyes until I came beside her.  
“ Um.. Merula , I wanted to give you a gift, if that’s alright.” Her violet eyes got bigger. She was looking so cute with her surprised face.  
“ You, got me a gift?” I nodded. “ I did. Here it is.” I gave her the little black box. She slowly opened it.  
“ This… wow, Claire, this is beautiful. Thank you.” She blushed as I smiled back at her. “ Happy Christmas, Merula.”  
“I… I don’t have anything for you and I will definitely deny ever saying this, but, I am glad you are here Claire. Happy Christmas.” I kept looking at her face. “ Um… could you?” She showed her wrest for me to put on the bracelet. “Of course.” I put it on. It looked amazing on her. I was right to give her the bracelet. After I turned around to leave, she called my name and I froze.  
“ Alyssa, would you… I mean… why don’t we go to the Black Lake before going to bed?” I turned to her. Merula calling me by my first name for the first time, her smoky eyes, her brown hair with the little orange part in front of her hair, and her green dress under her black coat was the absolute perfection. She was waiting for my respond as I was trying to get myself out of my thoughts about how attractive she was. I finally found the strength to speak. “ I would like that.” 

I was sitting across the lake. I would usually get cold easily, but the excitement inside of me growing by the minute while I was waiting for her to show up, distracted me from feeling the cold. I was biting my nails nervously when I heard someone behind me.  
“ What are you doing here all alone Aly ?” Orion was looking at me with cruiousity. “ I… I am waiting for someone. What are you doing here?” He looked around to find the person I was waiting.  
“ I was just passing, then I saw you. You look troubled.”  
I was? Merula could be here any second and I wasn’t sure if I wanted Orion to know that. But, deep down I felt like telling him. He was always very helpful and understanding towards me. “ I kinda am, can I ask you a question, Orion?” He sat beside me and nodded.  
“ Bring it, I will try to help you get out of this negative energy.”  
“ What would you do, if you felt a strong connection to someone, and wasn’t sure if that person feels the same?” He looked up to stare at the clouded sky. “ You mean someone that I am in love, or any other connection? You need to be more specific.”  
The stuff I felt about Merula wasn’t just lust or some distraction. It was real and I could never escape from it. “ I mean someone you love.” His lips curled up and sighed. “ So, you are in love Alyssa Claire… only advice I can give to you that, in life, you always must take the risks, because what is the point of living, if you can't go until the end for the things you desire the most. You can't never know without asking , and I believe that having an answer is always better than living with uncertainty.”  
He was right. I had to know, so that I could have an answer. I had to do it today. It was a great chance for me to open up to her. “ Well, you really are the master of these things, thank you Orion, I appreciate it.” He got up and prepared to go.  
“ So you are going to ask Merula ?”  
“ How did you¬“  
“ It is obvious. I notice everything, and if you ask me, she is as much as in love with you.” He blinked and started walking away. It made me feel like a bunch of butterflies were inside of me. My eyes searched for her in the dark but I couldn’t see anything.  
“Lumos.” I jumped out of my place with her voice.  
“ Seriously, Claire, stop acting like Copper. It's just me.” She was holding her cigarette standing behind me. Her eyes were shining with the light now, looking beautiful as always.  
“ You spooked me coming here without making a sound.”  
She sat where Orion was sitting a minute ago. “ Can I ?” I pointed out the cigarette before she handed it to me.  
“ Your voice really is beautiful.” I said looking at her.  
“ Thanks, I guess.” Her eyes were closed as if she were trying to rest her eyes. She started humming a melody as I was breathing the smoke in. She looked peaceful with her eyes shut.  
“ Merula, I really enjoyed today with you.”  
She stopped and opened her eyes. “ I did too. It is so strange talking to you without wanting to choke you.” I turned red immediately. I was lucky she couldn’t see that since it was dark.  
“ You could say that.” I said. It was the time. I tried to have an eye contact with her. “ Merula, how do you feel about me, after everything that happened?”  
I could see the panic growing on her face. She brushed her hair with her fingers. “What do you mean Claire? I don’t like this Hupplepuff talk, be straight.”  
Unfortunately, I was too gay to do that. I rolled my eyes to myself. Focus, Alyssa, you got this, I said to myself.  
“ I meant that we are much closer, don’t you think? And what's with you and Hufflepuffs?”  
She rolled her eyes. “ They are too emotional, that’s what. And yes, we no longer want to kill each other. So ?”  
She was making it harder for me as always. She contuined.  
“ If you want to tell me that I treat you like crap, save it to yourself. Just because we are hanging out, doesn’t mean I will hug you like that sugar queen Penny.”  
“ She is my friend, one of my best friends. Just. Shut your mouth and listen to me. “  
Her eyes got bigger. “ What's with the attitude? Now you have a thing for her or something?”  
I shook my head. “ I have a thing for someone. Someone that can't stop being annoying.”  
“ Don’t waste your time with whoever she is, you are doomed. I would stay single if I were you.”  
What the hell was she saying? I couldn’t let her shatter my confidence like that.  
“ I … whatever, just… I feel something for you. Kind of.” I kept my eyes on the lake and she remained silent. My heart was beating like it could explode any moment. My sight became blurry because of the tears waiting to fall from my eyes. I broke the silence.  
“ The view is beautiful.” I could feel her eyes were studying me. I turned my eyes to hers. She was looking at me like she could see through me. I bit my lips nervously.  
“ It is, beautiful.” She said without breaking the eye contact with me. Her eyes shifted to my lips as my heartbeat fastened even more. She slowly brought her face closer to mine and before I could think, her lips were on mine.  
Her kiss was warm, gentle and made me dizzy. I started kissing her back and felt her arms wrapped around my waist, bringing my body closer to hers. I reached for her face, I could feel the warmth coming from her cheeks. I was completed, and it felt like time had stopped. She slowly pulled back and studied my blushed face.  
“ I feel something for you too, kind of.” She grinned and I chuckled.  
“ Good to know, Snyde. What was all that nonesense about keeping my feelings to myself then?”  
“ I just felt jealous, since I thought you wanted to get back together with that wolf girl.”  
“ Chiara ? I told you that we were friends. What about Tulip?” She shrugged and reached for my hand.  
“ Never felt like this with her or anyone else. This feels different.” Her hold of my hand tightened.  
“ I can relate to that. So, now what?” She looked puzzled as much as I was. We had to keep it a secret. I couldn’t even imagine people's reaction to us being together. We have always been rivals and people were used to seeing us fight. I felt sick with the thought of my friends. They always despised Merula and her friends. How could I ever tell them?  
“ I think it would be less weird if we dont’t let anyone know.” I can't deal with people talking shit about me. About us.”  
I agreed with her and got closer to lay on her chest. Her scent filled my nose and her warmth helped me feel better. She put a kiss on my hair.  
“You smell so nice, you knew that?” Her voice sounded softer than usual. I smiled.  
“ Its weird to get a complement out of you.” I could imagine her brows frowned with my words.  
“ What the hell does that mean?”  
“ I mean, you always insult me. I am not used to you being nice to me.” She started playing with my hair. The view of the Black Lake and Merula's fingers on my hair felt like I was in heaven.  
“ I don’t want to be rude to you, but, you always make it hard. You know how to push my buttons, Alyssa.”  
“I love how you say my name.” Now I was sure she was rolling her eyes.  
“ Of course you do. Whats there not to like about me. I am the best.”  
She was the best and now, she was mine. I kept my silence and we watched the view together in peace. Today, was the day things were starting to change between us,forever.


	5. Promises

After sitting across the lake for an hour, we decided to head back to our rooms.  
“ Why don’t we spend the night in my room this time?” Merula said trying to hide her excitement.  
“ Why not? Ismelda is gone anyway.” I said.  
I was expecting the room to be clean and organized, since Merula's always been hardworking. But strangely enough, the room was messy, clothes all over the room, her books were piled up on her shelf, and her bed undone. Ismelda's side was less messy than hers.  
“ You never fail to surprise me.” I said looking at the mess.  
“ I know the room doesn’t look it's best, but I l am usually not this messy. I just don’t want it to look like no one was around. It reminds me of my home. Empty and clean.”  
It made sense that she wouldn’t want to feel like she is at home. It would really suck to go to an empty house when you can't think about anything else but your parents.  
“ I understand. It's fine, really.”  
She walked up to her closet and picked two long tshirts that was way too big for both of us.  
“ Wear one of my tshirts. Don’t go back to your room for this.” She threw me the tshirt and started to undress. I turned red and tried to keep my eyes on the tshirt she gave me. I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable about it, so I quickly changed too. I noticed she was avoiding to have an eye contact with me. We got in the bed and she put her head on my chest. I started playing with her messy hair. She wrapped her arms around my body and took a deep breath. It felt like I was having a dream. We were always fighting, arguing, teasing each other , and now, she was in my arms. I was still surprized about her feelings for me.  
“ Merula, when did you start having feelings for me?”  
She remained silent for a while before she sighed and started to speak.  
“ When we were little, I truly hated you. You were always the center of attention and annoying. Then, as we started growing up, I remember looking at the mirror and wished to look like you. But, it wasn’t like jealousy. It was more like... adoring your looks. And I noticed how you treat your friends like family and how dedicated you were with anything you put your mind into. I was impressed. But, when was I sure? I think it would be better if you just read it.”  
I was confused. I blinked rapidly trying to understand.  
“ Wait, what? “ She got her head up and turned to me with a smile.  
“ I think I know what I will give to you for Christmas.” She got up and took a notebook under her bed. She gave the notebook to me and waited for me to check. I opened it and saw dates at the side of the pages. It was a diary.  
“ You keep a diary? Brilliant!” Merula nodded and took the diary before turning the pages quickly.  
“ I want to remember the details. I know I wrote about you a lot, even Tulip said herself that sometimes she thought I had a crush on you. Well, she was so close to the truth.”  
“ Tulip read your diary?”  
“ No, she saw a few pages when I was trying to hide my diary. You are the only one I would allow to read, you should be proud.”  
I bit my lip waiting for her to give it back to me. She stopped at the page she was looking for. “ Here, enjoy.” 

'Today was a shitty day as always. I spent the day at the library to find a way to improve my skills in dueling. And to be more precise, to ignore Barnaby and Tulip. Tulip was asking so many questions and Barnaby was… Well, Barnaby. I want some quiet and peace away from everyone some days. This, is one of those days. But actually, today got interested when I heard Rakepick and Claire talk in the garden. I hid myself and listened to what they were talking about. Rakepick told her to be prepared for anything, and that her brother could be dead by now. I always believed that her brother was dead anyway. After Rakepick took off, Alyssa started crying all alone, making me feel like my heart was aching. I always hated to see her cry. I like the way she laughs at her friends. Why doesn’t she smile like that at me? I also like the way she looks when she gets annoyed from something I say. I love how she rolls her eyes at me. Today, I sat where I was hiding until she stopped crying and went to her room. I couldn’t leave her, I had to make sure she was okay, but didn’t have the courage to show up. She could never know about this. I had to write it down. I can't stop the way I feel about her. I hate to be valnurable but what I hate, always becomes what I have to deal with. And Claire is the ying to my yang. Fuck that shit.'

I looked at Merula, who was waiting for me to finish reading. “ Now you know. “  
I looked at her beautiful face. My brain had stopped.  
“Don’t look at me like I grew horns, Alyssa.”  
“ I am surprised. You, having feelings for me is one thing, but waiting for me that night… that was so sweet, Snyde. I can't help but being shocked by the fact that you are such a sweetheart.”  
She looked disgusted. “ Ew, don’t even call me that. I regret letting you read it.” I chuckled.  
“ Come on, Merula, the queen of hiding her true self, is actually a softy.”  
She grabbed the diary out of my hands and threw it off across the room. She pushed me back to bed and held both of my arms climbing on my body.  
“ You would realize how wrong you are if I just showed you how harsh I can be, Claire.” She brushed her nose against mine, and I reached for her lips to get a kiss, but she pulled away and laid down next to me. “ Let's sleep then.”  
“ Yeah, I am tired as fuck.” She reached for my waist and hugged me from my back. I closed my eyes, feeling better than ever in Merula Snyde's arms.

The next day we sat slightly away from each other at the Great Hall for breakfast. I was solely focused on eating when I heard someone preparing to sit next to me. I looked up to see who it was.  
“ Skye?” I thought she went to home but appearently, lots of people decided to stay. The last time I saw Skye, was after my brothers death, when she came to check up on me and to give the news about how it was the time for me to stay away from Quidditch for a while. And then Skye was nowhere to be seen.  
“ Long time, no see. Missed you girl.”  
“ I missed you too, but why are you here?”  
“ I need to study here, since I failed Charms again. My dad wants me to focus on my studies until the holiday ends.” I saw Merula staring at our direction. She was looking curious but I ignored her. “ I can help you again, but you need to promise you won't tear the pages this time.” Skyse srugged and sent me a mischief smile. “ Whatever you say, Aly. Just help me please.”  
“ Done. When do you think Madam Hooch will take me back to the team?” Skye's face went sheet white. “ Um… about that. Well, there may not be a way to get back to the team.”  
I nearly chocked on my food. “ What !”  
“ I know it sucks, but for us to win the Cup this year, Madam Hooch thinks the team would be better off without you, since everything that happened. And she also said you would be a liability.” I could feel the anger inside of me growing after hearing the end of her sentence.  
“ Liability? My ass, Skye. She knows I worked my butt off for the team while dealing with all that crazy shit going on. And now she thinks I am weak?” Skye sighed and shook her head.  
“ I don’t think she means it like that. Just so that you can focus on your classes instead of matches this year. It's not that bad.” I scoffed. “ Look who is talking. You are ready to study just to stay on the team.”  
“ You know it is different for me.” We both stared each other in silence. Skye broke the silence. “ Anyway, have you heard the rumours yet?”  
My eyes immediately met the violet ones sitting a couple of seats away. My heart skipped a beat thinking about how people found out about us.  
“ What rumours?”  
“ The werewolf rumours, of course. Don’t you tell me you know nothing about it.”  
I sighed with relief. She didn’t know. Our secret was safe.  
“ Will you tell me already?”  
“ Well… a few students were attacked by a werewolf. And they claim to have been attacked by a werewolf pack. People say they barely made it out alive.” My eyes grew with shock. “ That’s scary, Skye. I can't remember what it is like to feel safe anymore.” 

“ Hell no. Now we gotta deal with dogs? Absouletly no.” Merula looked furious after I told her about the attacks and that we should do whatever it takes to solve it. We were in the common room but there was no one else in here. I got up from the couch and reached for Merula's hand. She looked panicked checking the room for someone that could have seen us before putting her hand in mine.  
“ I know it sucks, but what choice do we have? We can't spend the whole time looking for Rakepick . We need distraction too.” She looked helpless for a second.  
“ But… I was planning to take you to my house. It's empty and my aunt don’t check up on me as much as she used to. I wanted to spend the holiday with you. Alone.”  
My heart went crazy with the idea and I nearly forgot the subject we were discussing.  
“ I would want that too. In fact, after all the things we went through, we deserve it. “  
I wouldn’t miss the chance to be with Merula. Not after knowing the people I love could be taken away from me so quickly.Her face lit up with hope.  
“ So, that means, you will quit acting like a moron, and actually come with me?” I rolled my eyes at her. “ You could say that. But, we will be on this werewolf issue when we get back. Deal? “  
She grinned wide. “ Is that a dare? I am in, Claire.” I pulled her closer to me. Her scent instantly calmed me. I sighed. “ Good.”

Merula's house was huge. Anyone could tell they were wealthy. Merula stood still as I was looking around, trying to understand how it must have been like for Merula to come here on the summer breaks. I always wondered about her family and why they would become death eaters in the first place knowing it wouldn’t end well. As far as I knew, her parents were captured years after the Battle of Hogwarst. They managed to run for a while, but when she was 10, they were sent to Azkaban.  
I saw a photo on the shelf among the books. Nothing seemed dusty or old. That must have been what Merula was talking about. The house was screaming the fact that no one was living in it, just her aunt to check on Merula time to time. I walked towards to the frame to see it better. Merula and a woman. I immediately realized that it was her mother, hugging each other while a man was standing beside them. All had wide smile on their faces. They looked happy and innocent.  
“ Wow, your mother is so beautiful. You took after her beauty, for sure.” Merula scoffed.  
“ Stop lying, I don’t see it. She was beautiful, talented and she decided to throw all that and her family aside by ruining our family.They both did.”  
I looked at her face. She had anger in her eyes, but her voice sounded… broken.  
“ I am sure they love you and they would do things differently, if they had the chance. And to get something clear, you are pretty. Did you know that everyone thinks you are one of the prettiest girls of our time? Penny always said so too.”  
She looked surprised for a second. “ Really? It's not like I don’t think that I am not attractive or anything but, I never heard people saying nice things about me.”  
I chuckled. “ Probably they were scared to do so, Merula.” I contunied to study the frame. “ You look…” She cut me off.  
“ Innocent? Contrary to the monster I really am?” I frowned at her words. She was in a mood.  
“ Happy. I was going to say.”  
She shrugged. “ Whatever.” I felt angry towards her parents. They should have done the right thing and stayed with Merula. I wondered why they wasted the life they could have.  
“ Merula, I know you hate these kind of matters, but if you could just talk about them and Rakepick a little, you could feel better. “  
She went for the couch and sat there looking like she could end me.  
“ I didn’t bring you here to have a psychological session, Claire.” She really was stubborn, but I decided to let it go. For now. I sat beside her and pulled her to my chest. She wrapped her arms around me and we both stared at the room for a while.  
“ They had their reasons, you know?” Her tired voice broke the silence.  
“ I am sure they had. “ I said playing with her hair.  
“ I remember them, but not as much as I want to. The memories are fading away. They were not the perfect parents but they were patient with me since I can be a lot sometimes.” She sighed heavily.  
“ You said that they taught you spells too.”  
“ Yes. For me to be able to protect myself. They were waiting the time for them to be captured. I remember them being paranoid by everything.”  
“ You are so strong, I can't even think how it would be like for me.”  
“ I had to be strong. It hurt so much when they were taken away from me, and I had to stay with my aunt. She doesn’t want anything to do with me because of my parents. She is scared but at least she took care of me until I could take care of myself.”  
Before I could say something, we both jumped with the loud knocking noise came from downstairs. We both grabbed our wands and carefully made our way to the source of the noise. Merula stopped when we were close to the outside door. She rolled her eyes. “ Those fuckers. I will kill them one day.”  
“ What are you talking about?” She opened the door and took a card from the ground.  
“This. They do this whenever I come here. Assholes.” I grabbed the card and read what was written on it.  
'You belong to Azkaban, where your bloodline belongs.'  
“ Who are they? Why do they send this to you?”  
She took the stairs without saying anything and went for her room. I followed her. She stood by her bed and took the card setting it on flames without a single word.  
“ Wow , hey!” I was caught off guard.  
“ They are the neighbours. They think I am evil as my parents, and that I should kill myself already.”  
I shook my head in disbelief. “ You don’t deserve this hatred. You did nothing wrong. None of this is your fault.”  
Her eyes were filled with tears, looking at my face like she wanted me to take her far, far away. I pulled her body to mine and hugged her tightly, wanting to make her forget everything that she was keeping buried inside of her.  
“ Thank you. I am so glad you are with me.” She hugged me back and I reached for her face. With my right hand, I was wiping her tears off while with the other, I was brushing her lips. When I lift my eyes to meet hers, I wasn’t sure whatever I was expecting to see, but it definitely wasn’t this… passion and desire. Her eyes got darker while her grin on my body thightened. I pressed my lips against her lips and kissed her with all the wild stuff I have been holding back inside. She gently bit my lower lip before pulling away and brushed her nose against mine.  
“ Alyssa, do you-“  
I knew what she wanted. It was deffinately what I wanted too.  
“ Yes. More than anything.” I cut her off. She smiled maliciously and pressed her lips on mine again. Her hands were inspecting my body while I was holding her face as I was feeling like my legs were weak. I could hear my heart beating like it could pop out of my chest.  
She took off my top as I was taking off hers, her face looked as red as mine with the heat of the moment. When we were completely naked, she pushed me to bed and sat on my lap. Her kiss was wet, passionate and insistant. My hands went for her breasts and she let out a low moan as soon as I touched her. She pulled away and left kisses on my neck before making her way to my bare front. When I felt her mouth on my breast, I moaned and shut my eyes pulling her hair. Her mouth was everywhere and I was burning.  
She slowly made her way down with soft kisses. I felt her lips above my enterance before I could speak.  
“ Merula…” Was all I could say.  
“ You are so wet.” She said after I felt her fingers touching me. I was sure my cheeks were in the shade of deep red. I looked down at her to see her smirk.  
A second later, her tounge was licking the area as all I could do was to moan deeper. She was rubbing me with her fingers, kissing the spot at the same time.  
“ Mmm…I don’t hear you quite well, Claire. I want to be inside of you.”  
All I could do was to nod. I needed her, right here, right now.  
She inserted two of her fingers inside of me and I let out a moan. She was good. Her fingers made me squirm beneath her. I could feel the peak was on the way, while her fingers kept their focus on me. I whined. “M… Merula...”  
Without warning, she added another finger and I whimpered loudly. I was close to climaxing, moaning as I could hear her moans too. I screamed her name before my legs began shaking. I was breathing heavily.  
I opened my eyes to see her licking her fingers, looking satisfied. She reached for my face and whispered.  
“ You are gorgeous.” She kissed me, letting me know my own taste. I pushed her aside and climbed on her body. Kissing and leaving small bites on her neck. She kept moaning until my tounge was on her thighs. When she felt my kiss on her , she grabbed my hair and pushed my mouth deeper. I started licking her, getting lots of whimpers in return.  
I was biting, teasing and kissing at the same time. I pushed my fingers one by one inside of her. With my free hand, I kept rubbing her until I felt her hold tightened on my hair.  
I could feel her getting closer and closer to her orgasm.  
“ Alyssa I …” She let out moans even louder before her entire body started shaking. When she came, I licked her off, earning more cute voices from her. I made my way up to her lips as she was looking like the most beautiful thing ever exsisted, with her violet eyes watery from the pleasure she felt, her eyeshadow messed up a little, and her lips slightly open as she was breathing heavily.  
“ You are amazing.” I brushed my nose against hers. She reached for my lips and kissed me softly.  
“ That was beyond incredible.” She said between her deep breaths. I laid next to her and ran my fingers through her body back and forth. Trying to memorize every inch of it. I felt her fingers playing with my hair as we both were trying to calm our breaths. I felt her breathing getting deeper and fingers slower.  
I lift my eyes to see her eyes shut, looking peaceful. My eyelids were heavy too. Before I could think what just happened, I fell asleep.

I was standing in an empty, narrow room with stone walls. It was cold enough to see the fog coming out of my nose, mixing with the air when I exhaled. Where was I ? My head automatically turned to the side, soon as I heard a weak voice coming from the back of the stone wall. I walked up to the wall and put my ear on it to hear better.  
“ Find… find me. Help, please.”  
Her voice was shaking with fear. I tried to find my wand inside my pockets but I could not move. The wall between us started collapsing all of a sudden. Everywhere was filled with dust now. I tried to see something between all the fog and dust, but all I can see was someone on the ground wearing black cloat. I tried to take a step to see the woman's face, but my legs didn’t move again.  
I had to be wrong. The voice sounded similar to a voice that I heard in my nightmares everynight. I had to prove myself wrong.  
“ Find. Me.” Was all I could hear before waking up in sweat. I took deep breaths as I felt someone's hands holding my arms, shaking me.  
Merula was looking deeply concerned,studying my face.  
“ Bloody hell, I thought we both stopped having nightmares, but clearly, you still have them.”  
I took my hand to my face to get my hair away from my sweaty face. My throat was dry.  
“ Water?” I said trying to take deep breaths. She handed me the water and kept looking at my face ,waiting for me to start talking.  
“ It wasn’t the same one. This one felt so… strange. It wasn’t like something already happened. I felt like it was a vision.”  
“ Visions like you had, when you were looking for your brother?” I nodded. She scoffed.  
“ Amazing. What was it to scare you this much?”  
I didn’t want her to get crazy over Rakepick again. I knew she wanted to become like her, so when Rakepick betrayed us, Merula was the most disappointed by her. And as much as she didn’t want to admit, she was broken and trying to turn her sadness into hatred.  
“ It was about the attacks on the school, I guess. I can't remember much.”  
Merula sighed and didn’t seem to buy it. “ Whatever you say.”  
We kept staring each other and I realized that she was only wearing a bra with the marks on her neck, reminding me the day before. I felt blood rushing to my cheeks as I was staring at her. She got out of the bed and got dressed quickly.  
“ We should go back, Merula.” I said watching her movements. She rolled her eyes at me.  
“ I knew you would say that. But if it will make you feel like less of a traitor, then okay.”  
“ What do you mean?” She sat on the bed facing my confused expression.  
“ It's my weird way saying that you don’t need to save everyone or everything. It's not your responsibility to fix everything.”  
“ I know that, but Chiara could be in danger too. Let alone our other friends.”  
“ They are more like your friends than mine. Anyway, lets eat something and head back to Hogwarts then.”  
I rolled my eyes at her. She was becoming friends with them before we found Jacob. My heart crushed with the thought of my long gone brother again, but I had to get used to the pain. Merula was the only one that could make me forget everything.  
“ Okay let's go back.” I said.  
She paused for a moment before turning to me. “ I… there is something I want to show you. Come downstairs after you dress.”  
She said before leaving the room, leaving me with questions. I got up quickly and dressed to follow her downstairs.  
She was standing in front of me, facing the other side. I came closer to see what she was staring at. It was a broom, a very good one, indeed.  
“ No fucking way.” I came closer to see it better. “ Firebolt Supreme. Merula, how come?”  
She looked concerned before speaking. “ My parents gave it to me when I was 10. It used to be my happiest memory, but now I barely can remember the moment. Then they were gone and my aunt didn’t let me come here for a very long time.”  
“ It is beautiful.”  
“ And now, it's yours.” I immediately looked at her. “ What? Merula, no.”  
“ Yes. You know I am not the very best when it comes to flying. I mean I don’t even think it’s a big deal to fly anyway. “  
“ But-“  
“ You play Quidditch. It will be useful on the matches. Just take it already.” I looked at the broom again.  
“ I… thank you. It means a lot. Can't wait Hooch to take me back, because she will, and I will win with this beauty.”  
I had to find a way to get back to Quidditch. It was a great distraction and I always loved the challenge.  
“ You are so sure about winning.”  
I winked at her. “ I always do, Snyde.” 

We were back at Hogwarts. I loved the Firebolt Supreme. It was fast as hell. I kept imagining myself winning the Cup with it and the face of Skye when she sees this new broom. I would have to explain to her how I got it though. Skye would be furious since she hated Merula. Just like most of the people.  
I looked at my girlfriend. She was looking like a beautiful rebel as always.  
“ What ?”  
I smiled widely. “ Want me to take you for a ride, gorgeous?”  
She blushed and looked around to see anyone else but, we were alone. She took her hands to her hair nervously.  
“ Why not?” She placed herself behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I took off and we both started laughing while flying all the way through the blissful sky. I heard her warm breath near my ear.  
“ I am the happiest with you, Alyssa.” She whispered.


	6. Unexpected Visit

After our long ride on the broom, we got even more hungry and were in a rush to enter the Great Hall. Merula had stopped holding my hand after we passed the castle grounds and told me to meet in her room after we eat. When we entered the hall, my heart skipped a beat when I saw all my friends. Merula was as surprised too, but she managed to pull away from me and walked passed them like nothing happened. I was still standing looking at Penny, Rowan, Edward and Victoire. All their heads were now, turned to my side. Penny got out of her seat and run towards me for a hug. “ Aly! Finally you are here! Where were you?”   
She was hugging me too tight. I pulled away to see her face. “ I … doesn’t matter. What are you guys doing here ? Why came early?”  
We walked closer to them. Victoire clapped her hands in a slow motion. “ Our curse breaker finally showed. I was thinking about pranking your ass, since I thought you left for home. “  
Rowan hugged me too and whispered to my ear while doing so. “ Are you alright? Merula gave you a hard time?”  
I shook my head. “ No, not really.” I tried to avoid her gaze, trying to stop blushing.   
Edward threw a box at me. “ Hey!”  
“ Happy Christmas, Aly.”  
Penny scoffed. “ I thought we were going to wait!” Rowan put her hand on my shoulder as I was studying the gift.   
“ You didn’t think we would leave you alone all Christmas, did you?” I smiled at them.  
“ Guys… this … thank you.” Victoire rolled her eyes. “ You didn’t even open it yet.”  
“ I don’t have to. I am sure its brilliant.” I slowly opened the box and saw a frame of all of us. Even Merula was in it. Penny, Rowan, Victoire and I were standing in the front line, while Tulip, Edward, Barnaby, Ben and Tulip were standing further back. Ismelda , Liz,Orion , Sky and Murphy were there too. And, there she was. Merula Snyde was at the back, slightly smiling. It was perfect. I could remember the time we got this picture at the end of the fourth year, when we were all teamed up to find the vaults and my brother.  
“ I cant believe this… you are all here. This is amazing.” Penny hugged me again. “ I know! So, you like it?”   
I wiped my tears .“ I love it.” 

Everyone returned to Hogwarts for our trainings. The holiday was over, and our entire focus was on finding things that could help us to beat the R. I couldn’t see Merula after I got my gift at the hall. We were in our dorm room with Rowan and I was impatient to meet Merula. My cheeks were burning as I was remembering the moments we had at her house. Rowan got me out my thoughts.   
“ You are acting weird. Is something happening?” Her eyes were narrowed with suspicion. I shook my head.   
“ I am just a little nervous. Where is Liz by the way? We will train, right?”  
“ Yes, Tulip and Barnaby will be there too. But first, we need to see McGonagall.”  
“ Why?” Rowan looked concerned. “ McGonagall told me to come to her office. She wants to know what we are up to.”   
I got out my bed. “ Well, up to no good, as always.”  
Rowan giggled before we made our way out. When McGonagall saw us, she pointed out the couch in her office for us to take a seat. Rowan looked nervous to be here, but I always felt close to McGonagall.   
“ Tea?” She was looking quite comfortable, but I could sense her tiredness. It must have been a lot to run Hogwarts. “ No mam ,thank you.” She took a sip of her tea before speaking. “ I am having a hard time believing Rakepick was the traitor. It's devastating for us all, but it certainly is harder for you.”  
I was playing with my hands to ignore the flashbacks of the night that gave me nightmares.  
“ It's … harder for Merula. She was the one to rely on her the most.”  
“ Miss Snyde will get over it, if you work together on your studies". She was implying on our rule breaking activities to search for the vault and the R. Rowan cleared her throat nervously beside me. I was still confused about the fact that if McGonagall wanted us to go on with it.  
“ I am sorry, what are you saying is-“   
“ That I can be blind sometimes, Miss Claire.”   
I nodded. Massage was clear. She sighed and looked upset for a moment. “ Albus trusted her. Whoever he claimed to be loyal, always proved to be so. I am deeply sorry for you to get through this.” Rowan smiled gently. “ Together, there is nothing we can't solve. And we will.”  
I looked at her, wanting to believe every word she said. But, deep down I knew some of us might get killed along the way. Despite my thoughts, I smiled back at her. 

We were at the training grounds with Barnaby and Tulip. I always liked Tulip since she was a rebel and loved to break the rules along the way to help me finding my brother. But,I couldn’t help feeling jealous because of Merula. I tried to hide it from her, but I ended up throwing her away for the third time while dueling each other.   
“ Hey ! It seems like you actually are trying to beat my ass, Alyssa Claire. “ I looked at her innocently. “ Am I? “   
I heard Ismelda's angry growl against someone behind me. We all turned to their side. I saw Ismelda and Liz were dueling, and judging from the face of Ismelda, Liz was winning. Penny and Skye were dueling too. My eyes were searching for the violet ones in the area. I kept searching until our eyes finally met. She was looking tired but determined as she was walking up to my side.  
“ Get your wand ready, Claire. I can't tolerate to the weak and you are nothing but it.”  
My eyes opened wide with her words. She caught me off guard as she was acting like the old days. Barnaby came closer before started talking. “ I would want to watch you two duel, but I want watermelon. Why they aren’t called earthmelons? They grow from earth…” Merula sent him death glares as I was trying to ignore him completely.   
“ You know what I wish everytime I see you, Barnaby?” He paused for a moment before replying. “ A hug?” “ That you'd have even half brain of a spider!”   
She screamed in anger. Barnaby looked scared before we heard someone's steps behind him.  
“ Duel me instead of Claire, I have been wanting to duel you since… forever.” Skye raised her wand against Merula. I was frozen, didn’t know what to say or how to react. One of them was my lover, other one was one of my best friends, my teammate.   
“ Whatever you say, I like a challenge.” Merula grinned wickedly and pushed me behind her. “ Get out of the way, Claire.” She said before they started shouting incantations.  
“ Expelliarmus !” Skye shouted while the red light flashed out from her wand. Merula sent her bluebell flames without a single word. The lights were crashing each other, trying to sustain dominance over the other one. I could see the shock in Skye's eyes. Everyone stopped and started watching them in surprise. Merula was strong. Her ability to cast the spells without a word, made it difficult for Skye to defend herself.  
“ Flipendo!” Merula shouted for the first time and a second later, Skye was on the ground. Penny rushed to Skye and helped her get back on her feet.   
“ That was… smashing! You need to fucking show us how to do it, Snyde.” Said Skye when I expected her to attack Merula.   
“ It requires skill and power, the things you don’t have except for showing off on a broom, Parkin.” Merula looked proud of herself. How could she be able to cast non verbal spells like it was nothing? She must have been working on them when she was absent all that time I wondered where she was.  
“ You are not all talk after all, Snyde.” I said looking at her proud face. Her eyes softened looking at me, but I was the only one noticed it. She worked hard, that was obvious but she also had raw skill for it. She really was powerful, and was determined to destroy our enemies. I had to try dueling her some other time. I could pick up a few things from her. 

Sky suggested to go for a walk with her, that she wanted to talk and I accepted. She was shaken up from the duel, but whatever it was she wanted to talk, must have been important.  
“ So, I saw you placing your new broom in the changing room. Do you want to fucking show it to me? “ I panicked as I was trying to figure out a lie about the broom, but I was totally unprepared.  
“Its… um… it is new.” Skye scoffed beside me. “ Oh, no shit.” I rolled my eyes and prepared myself to tell her the truth.  
“ Look, you are the only one I will share it with. So please try to be less edgy about what I have to say.” She nodded.   
“ Aight, bring it. I mean… how fucked up can it be? Did you steal it? Won't say a word, if you did.”   
“ No, it’s a gift actually. From someone I deeply care.” Skye's face was covered with confusion now. “ Who is it? Do I know that person?” I sighed heavily. “ You do… you dueled her today.”   
Skye slowly turned her head to me with her sheet white face. “ Merula?” I slowly nodded.  
“ The evil, sick, complete asshole Merula?” I kept my silence to her words for Merula. “ Tell me this is a joke, how come she gave you a broom? She probably casted a spell on it to kill you or something.”  
“ She… is not that terrible okay? We became closer after all that happened, and she tries.” Skye was looking furious more than ever now. “ Kidding me right? She never talk to us and when she does, nothing nice comes out of her filthy mouth.”  
I sighed. “ Skye, please. You have to understand. I do care about her and I don’t want this to make things weird between us.”  
“ You mean our friendship which you are testing right now?”  
I smiled. “ Yea, that’s the one.”  
Skye looked far away for a couple of seconds before talking. “ Fine. But I am no fool, Aly. I saw the way she pulled you behind her, right before we dueled each other. When I think about it now, it is more than caring for each other. And that bitch never ever would give you her broom at any cost if you weren’t as special to her as she is for you.”   
I poked her with my shoulder. “ Am I sensing jealousy, Parkin?” She poked me back. “ No, because I will make you pay for it if you ditch me for her. You will study with me.”   
I shook my head. “ I don’t know Parkin. I can,if you keep ripping pages from your notebooks.”   
She smacked my shoulder before I let out a scream mixed with laughter.

I rushed to the library after having a long nap after shower. I had to meet Merula half an hour ago, but I was too tired and caught up with thoughts that I missed the track of time. I passed the restricted section and saw her messy,light brown hair from the back. She was so focused on what she was reading, she didn’t notice me sitting across her table until I whispered.   
“ Hey, gorgeous.” Her eyes grew wide before checking for someone that could have heard what I just called her.  
“ You are late, where the hell were you?”   
“ I lost track of time, sorry. Are you alright?” She was looking tired but she was relentless. She wasn’t going to stop until she found something about R.   
“ I am, I … missed you.” Her cheeks went red and she looked so innocent despite her tone .  
“ What did you talk with Parkin today? She kept staring at me weirdly. I mean, weirder than normal.” I broke the eye contact with her to avoid whatever fury she might feel after what I had to say. “ She knows about us.”  
She remained silent. I felt her piercing gaze on my face. “ What do you mean she knows? We had a deal.”  
“ I… I know. She noticed okay? And I had to tell her. But she won't tell anyone. I swear.” Merula shut down her book.   
“ How can you be so sure? Couldn't you just lie to her?” I could feel my cheeks burn with anger.  
“ She is my friend,Merula. And no, she already knew something was up. Just let it go. It is not the end of the world.” She was making a big deal out of it. She got up from her chair and prepared to leave.   
“ Not the end of the world, but the end of my trust, Claire.” My eyes flicked open with her words. She knew how to hurt me,and she was being stupid about all this. I could not let her treat me this way for something that wasn’t even my fault.   
“ Well than Snyde, suck it up.” We stopped whispering while arguing and Madam Pince sushed us before Merula took off like she couldn’t stand being around me at the moment.

I was crying secretly for the last fourty minutes or so, when Penny found me in the library. I wiped away my tears to hide how tedious I was.  
“ Sweety! What on earth happened to you? What is wrong?” She sat beside me after putting her books on the desk. She probably came to study potions, but ended up noticing my sad ass crying alone. I shook my head. “ Nothing, really. Merula annoyed me as always.”  
She was rubbing my back to comfort me. “ Ugh, that little porcupine. She is powerful after all though. Today, I hated her for the third time, and now I see you like that and guess what, she is going for the record.” I giggled softly. “ She really is something. I can't believe how annoying she can be sometimes.”  
“ I know, but come on, you never let her get to you like that. Now, go and have some rest. Tomorrow, we will annoy the heck out of her, I promise.” I wanted to talk to Merula and try to make it up, but she was okay with leaving me like that, and she wasn’t trying to fix it,so I decided to go to my room and have some sleep. I tried to send Penny a smile before nodding slowly. I was ready to fix this, whenever Merula was ready too.

The next day, I was feeling a lot better and having space to think about what happened between Merula, helped me to understand it all better. Merula was trying to push me back as she wasn’t used to being in a real relationship, but she had to try and be better, if she was as serious with this as I was. I was ready to fix it, but as long as she keeps running away from talking about it, I was going to ignore her too. I tried to keep an eye on Rowan for the rest of the flying class. We were learning to ride broom facing backwards but since I already knew how to, Madam Hooch asked me to help others.   
“ You know, I love you, but if you let me fall, I won't sit next to you in Potions, and leave you alone with Murtula.” Rowan was shaking on her broom trying to balnce herself.   
“ Wow, how evil. Try to spend your energy keeping that balance Rowy.” My eyes met violet ones when I turned my head to her side. She completely avoided my gaze and with a frown on her face, she contunied focusing on her broom. I shifted my focus on Rowan again as I heard Madam Hooch yelling. “ That is enough for today. Class dismissed.”   
I helped Rowan get off of her broom and we went straight for the Great Hall. Edward Lupin sat across the table looking like something was troubling him. Rowan and I looked at each other at the same time. Something was up.  
“ Um… Eddy, you okay?” He shook his head side to side. “ I can't believe how reckless Victoire can be sometimes. I mean, she is the best and I am so lucky to have her,but come on, sometimes she tests me.”  
“ Hang in there champ, what is wrong?” I asked again hoping he would stop whining about it and tell us what happened. “ She and Tulip keeps playing tricks on Ismelda and they ended up dueling ech other. I know her father very well. Bill Weasley won't let us spend the holidays at Hogwarts ever again if she keeps doing that.”  
“ Are they okay?” Rowan asked in worry. “ Yes, I mean Ismelda keeps threatening them with the curses she would put on them all the damn time, but other than that, yeah.”  
I checked if Merula was sitting anywhere I could see her, but she wasn’t. “ We need to talk bout the werewolf attacks, guys.” Rowans attention was fully on me now.   
“ I heard. Penny told me and she was so scared.” Edward nodded. “ I want to know all about it. Why don’t we all meet at the Courtyard after dinner?” I agreed. We had to deal with whatever was happening at Hogwarts.

When we were on our way to Charms classroom, I saw Merula talking with Tulip. Her face was looking dead serious and Tulip was listening carefully. I nearly died out of curiousity, but tried to ignore them while Rowan and I were passing by. Both of their faces turned to us and Tulip waved to us. I smiled, but caught Merula pointing me the empty classroom behind her with her eyes. I turned to Rowan.  
“ You should let Tulip know about today. She can help us too. I forgot my books, will be back before class starts.” Rowan looked confused. “ You do have your books, Aly.”  
“ I… I forgot my notebook, okay? See you in class.” I ignored her suspicious gaze and watched Rowan starting to talk with Tulip and noticed Merula was already gone. I watched Rowan and Tulip dissepear in the corridor and went for the classroom Merula pointed. I heard her voice the second I stepped inside.  
“ Claire, there you are.” She was sitting on a desk with her legs crossed, looking confident as ever. “ Snyde, do yo have something to say?” Her eyes softened and she jumped off the desk. She crossed her arms and looked down. “ I… want to apologize. I shouldn’t have lashed out like that and I really want to be as good to you as you are to me. I am done being awful to you.” I moved closer to her and reched for her hand. “ I agree. I never betrayed your trust, Merula. Skye just knew about it. I don’t want you to be awful to me either. Why don’t we try together?”  
She moved closer to me and wrapped her other arm around my waist. “ We can do that. I trust you and didn’t mean what I told you. Let's leave all this shit behind. You are dating the best witch at Hogwarts and it's time I made good on that.”  
I giggled. “ I can't wait for the experience, Miss Snyde.”  
We sepreted unwillingly to go back to class. I was already feeling so much better. I tried to keep all my focus on the class when it started, but couldn’t help myself thinking about the rumours. 

“ I keep my Wideye Potion with me at all times. It's just a nightmare for me now. I can't even fall asleep because I don’t feel… safe.” Penny said playing with one of her braids. All of our group was here to discuss the rumours. I put my arm on her shoulder to comfort her a little. I was feeling sad for Penny,because I knew exactly how it felt to be on alarm all the time. I was sharing the trauma with someone else though, Penny was just feeling alone because werewolves were her greatest fear and we couldn’t relate to her no matter how much we tried to.  
“ Ugh, I don’t know if we suck at finding our enemies,or they just too scared to face us?” Victoire said after taking a bite of her apple. I heard footsteps before my eyes caught Ismelda, Barnaby and Merula coming towards us. “ Who the hell told them about this?” Lizzie growled with anger. “ I did, well, we need to work all together to fight a pack you know? Werewolves always work with packs.” Said Tulip. Lizzie kept looking at Ismelda and Merula in anger. “ Well, I don’t like it but whatever.”  
“ Shut your mouth flobberworm, or else I will and you won't like it either.” said Merula with her violet eyes sparkling with rage. “ Cut it off.” I said in a harsh voice. We needed to work together and they were being childish as always.  
“ You all make me want to put the death curse on each one of you.” said Ismelda sounding cold as ice.   
“ I see what you did there Merula, you know,calling Lizzie flobberworm because of her glass-“   
“ Shut up, Barnaby.” Ismelda cut him off before he started pouting.   
“ Where is Ben?” Rowan whispered to me. I had no idea. He kept ditching us and he was acting weird lately. I decided to have a talk with him once I see Ben. I shook my head as in no to her. I saw Chiara walking to our side as we were tying to figure out who was responsible for the attacks. I stood up to welcome her. We were friends now after all, and she wasn’t friends with the group, so I wanted to make her feel welcome. “ Hey, why don’t you guys say hi to Chiara. She is here to inform us about the attacks.” Chiara took a deep breath beside me before she started talking. “ Guys, I know it sounds ridiculous but trust me, whoever is behind these, cannot be from Hogwarts. I traced the scent and I don't recognize it. I would know if it was someone we knew."  
“ Great, now we gotta believe the wolfgirl!” Merula said with a mocker tone. What was she doing?  
“ How can you say that?” I was furious with her words. Was she jealous? She had to grow up and focus on our plan.   
“ Maybe she was the one who did all this and tries to hide behind the so called dangerous werewolf pack !”  
I shook my head in desblief and saw Rowan rolling her eyes at Merula with the corner of my eye.  
“ Are you crazy, Snyde?” Chiara started shaking beside me. I could see her troubling staying calm and I had to intervene to keep them under control. Before I could open my mouth, a howler showed and interrupted the argument out of nowhere. “ I know who is behind this. And they will attack if we don’t find them now! You have to come quick to the forest !” It was Ben's voice. We were all looking at each other's terrified faces. I was frozen for a second,before my hands found my wand and grabbed it to get ready.  
We had to fight them and we had to do it now.


	7. Too Late

My wand in my hand, running through the woods with Penny and Rowan beside me, I could feel the adrenaline through my veins. It was dark, but I could hear the growling sounds coming from a distance.  
“ Alyssa, it is a pack. We have to be careful!” Chiara shouted behind me. We were following the sounds. I knew we had to be ready. I couldn’t lose anyone else but if we don’t fight now, they would attack even before we knew they were coming. At least now we were all ready to protect ourselves. Rowan stopped and pointed out the woods. “ They must be there. Be ready.”  
I tried to see someone, but all I could see was the dark silhouette standing still.  
“Lumos.” I heard Tulip's voice. She came closer to see the person standing behind Ben. He wasn't looking terrified as he normally would. “ Show yourselves. Right. Now.” I raised my wand.  
“ Well, well. Chiara had some friends after all." The man started walking towards us. “ Stop before I bury you here.” I was shaking with fear but I was ready to do anything to protect us. Anything.   
“ You must be Alyssa, you are quite trouble, so I heard.” I heard footsteps coming behind him. The pack was here. My eyes were trying to figure out how many they were out there. Before I could think, the man shouted. “ Kill them all!”  
I shouted the only incantation I could think of. “ Depulso!” I saw the man in front of me thrown away with my spell, but others were transformed and already got in a fight with my friends.   
“ Protego!” Penny held me behind her with Ben. I could barely see what was happening. Where was Merula? I aimed my wand at a werewolf that was trying to bite someone. I couldn’t see who it was but it didn’t matter. “ Incendio !”  
The flames found the werewolf and he started transforming back to his human form. He was crawling with pain, but I felt numb. I was only focused on protecting my friends. If we wanted them to leave us alone, we had to show them what we were capable of. I heard Merula shouting in anger. “ Damn, just get out of my way Barnaby!”  
I turned to their side and saw a big flash coming out of her wand. A second later, three men was on the ground. I didn’t know if they were dead, but I didn’t care either. We had to stay alive. Flashes were everywhere. I saw Chiara transform and attack one of them. The werewolf I burned tried to stand up, but Victoire pinned him back. “ I wouldn’t even try.” I I heard Ben's voice calling my name. “ Alyssa, help! He will kill me ! Please!” When did he even go there? He was just standing behind me. I didn’t think. I just stepped forward and started running to his voice. I heard Merula behind me. “ Alyssa, no!”   
I saw flashes before everything went dark. Screams started fading away slowly as I let myself fall into the arms of a deep darkness. 

“ What was she doing here?” I heard Rowan whispering to someone. I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids were too heavy for me to lift them. I tried to move, but my body didn’t react. I was laying on a bed, I assumed.   
“ She keeps coming. I have no idea what she is doing. Keep an eye on her just in case.” Penny replied with a scoff. Darkness was coming again. I drifted into sleep before I could think about anything else.   
My head was hurting so bad. I opened my eyes slowly and immediately shut them down with the light coming straight to my eyes from the window. Once again, I tried to look around. I was in the Hospital Wing. I tried to remember what happened. Werewolves… Ben. Where was he? Have I managed to save him? I reached for a glass of water beside me but froze with Merula's voice.   
“ Easy, Claire.” She was sitting on a chair beside my bed. I didn’t see her at first, but she was there looking at me with weary eyes. Oh, how long was I here? She reached for the water and helped me drink some. I cleared my throat before asking. “ What happened?” Merula sighed with anger. Her eyes were now glowing with rage.   
“ Ben happened. That little shit were always afraid of his own shadow. I don’t understand how he was able to do what he did.”   
“ Wait,what did he do?” Merula sat beside my bed. Her eyes were filled with tears. “ He attacked you. If it wasn’t for madam Pomfrey, I could lose you.”  
Her voice cracked with the end of her sentence. I tried to sit, but it was too painful. “ Ben attacked me? I was trying to save him! “  
Merula shook her head. “ And look how it went! Stop being reckless. Once you feel better, we will train. Just you and me.” She was looking desperate.   
“ Merula, I am sorry, but whatever the hell is going on, we will get through it. I promise.” Her lips curled up with a broken smile. “ Do not give promises you can't keep.”

“ Alyssa Claire, I knew you were tough. Welcome back.” Tulip helped me to get out of the bed I was laying for days. I wasn’t bored to death thanks to my friends. They kept coming and distracted me from what happened. And today was finally the day I got to stay in my room. Merula kept coming after midnight ,sneaking in to check on me. She was on alarm all the time and she never looked like she got enough sleep. I had to comfort her about my well being as soon as possible. Rowan kept asking me why Merula was looking like she was the one that got attacked and wondered why she came to ask her how I was. I tried to pretend like I had no idea, but Penny was suspicious too. She thought Merula felt guilty about it. I had so many questions to ask, but my only aim was to get better before doing anything. Ben went missing after that night. No one had seen him. I was devasteated to know he was a traitor, but what could he gain by hurting me? My mind was too busy with thoughts to realize we were standing in front of the Slyhterin common room. Tulip turned to me. “ Rowan is waiting for you inside. Try to stay out of trouble, okay?” I sent her a mischievious smile. “ We both know it is impossible, Karasu.” She pushed her red hair back, giving me the exact smile I had. “ I know. But still, I need you around to break the rules after all.” She blinked and turned around to leave.   
Rowan was waiting for me in our room and she rushed to me as soon as she saw me. “ Are you feeling better?” I nodded. “ Never better. I just need to get back on track before I go mad.” She helped me sit on the bed and pouted. “ We need to talk.”  
Panic took over me as I could guess what she wanted to talk about was Merula. “ What is it Rowy?” She looked uncomfortable before talking.  
“ What happened between you and Murtula? You know… since you were sleeping on the same bed?”   
I couldn’t tell her the truth, I wanted to tell her that I was in love with Merula and how she was making me feel,but all my friends hated Merula in a way. Merula was our rival since we came to Hogwarts. I had to lie to my best friend. “ About that… well, nothing… we just get along better actually, and now that we can finally stop fighting, we talk about what we went through. Talking to her helps.”  
Rowan shook her head. “ I realized. She was nearly as scared as we were when Ben attacked you.” Ben. I tried to remember what spell he casted on me, but I could only remember his voice calling me to help him out. “ Rowan, what do you think happened that night? I know you guys are trying to hide something from me, I can tell.” She sighed and looked at the ceiling.  
“ You should talk about this with McGonagall. She wanted to see you once you feel better. She has the answers you are looking for.” I pushed my body back to lay on the bed. Tomorrow, I would see her. Now, I just needed to rest without having to think about all the mess we were in.

“ I am terribly sorry for what happened to you. I should have been more careful.” Miss McGonagall said. We were in the Transfiguration classroom. She was spending more time in here than her office. “ I just don’t understand how Ben did that to me. It doesn’t make any sense.”  
“ He had a plan, he got you where he could attack you. If it wasn’t for your dear friends… I don’t even want to imagine what would happen.” I gulped with the thought of it. McGonagall went on. “ Ben is either working with Rakepick or he was under the imperious curse, I'm afraid.”  
It was a thought that slipped my mind. What if he was being controlled all that time? It was awful but at least it was better than being betrayed by one of my closest friends.  
“ I want you to come to me if you notice anything strange, Miss Claire. We can't let anything like this happen again.”  
I nodded but deep down we both knew we couldn’t stop the R. They were out there and the pack was long gone. “ I have a question Miss McGonagall.” She looked at me like she could she what was on my mind.   
“ Do ask, Miss Claire.” I took a deep breath. “ Why Ben tried to… kill me? Why only me?” She closed her eyes and remained silent for a while. When she opened them, I could easily see the fear in her eyes. “ Our mind becomes our gratest enemy when we don’t know all the answers. It keeps us from seeing the truth, and get lost in the possible realities. It is better to wait until we are sure of what we are dealing with. Focus on your studies.” We kept staring at each other. I trusted McGonagall with my life. I knew she was keeping things from me to protect me. I decided to drop it for now. 

Today, I had Potions and my heart started beating faster on my way to class. I told Rowan I would meet her in class and I wondered if Merula would be there before Rowan. Maybe we could find some time to talk. I hated the whole hiding it thing, but we didn’t have a choice. Rowan and Merula was sitting at their chairs already,waiting for me to walk in. Merula's eyes met mine for a split second before she rolled her eyes and looked the other way. I was used to her being like this, but now it was different. Now we were together. Rowan didn’t notice anything and smiled at me. I took my seat and sighed. “ How was it?" Rowan looked worried, but before I could even talk, class started. We were going to brew Essence of Insanity potion. It was a very advanced potion, and I was never the best at brewing potions. Penny would always prepare me beforehand and Merula used to torture me in the class. I tried to follow the guidelines, but I could already tell I was messing it up. “ Rowy, does it look okay to you?” Rowan looked at my potion and kept looking at it before saying something.   
“ I know I suck, just tell me how much, okay?” Merula was quiet the whole time and I ignored her to be able to act like I used to. She was focused on her potion the whole time until I felt her hand on my legs under the desk we were sharing. I went full red looking at Rowan's face to wait for her answer. “ I don’t know Ally, it looks good.”   
Merula didn’t take her hand off my leg. “ Yes, it looks good Claire. Good enough to throw it away.” I slowly turned my gaze to her. Her lips were curled up with a playful smile. She was having so much fun messing with me. I tried not to stutter before replying. “ Well, Murtula, good is a matter of opininon.” I looked away from her and tried to fix my potion and yet, it was beyond fixing. 

I was hungry and I had to wait for Victoire to come with me. I saw her coming towards me. She was looking troubled and tired. She would normally make jokes and mess with me, but today she was just out of it. “ You okay? You seem distracted.” I asked while eating my meal. Merula and Ismelda were already gone, probably finished before we came. Victoire sighed. “Nothing new, really. I just want to have a break from all this,but at the same time I can't stop wanting to end this whole R thing.”   
“ I know, but we have to be strong. Maybe focusing on classes and our trainings for a while will help.”  
I flinched with someone's touch on my shoulder. It was Chiara. “ Can we talk?”  
I was surprised but I could tell it was about the werewolf attack. Before I could say anything to her, a third year Gryffindor yelled at Chiara. “ How can you even show up in here? You are one of them! You are a werewolf that can hurt us!”  
Oh, it was going to be so much fun. I rolled my eyes. Chiara started shaking beside me and I immediately held her arm and dragged her out of the Great Hall.   
“ One day, I really am going to rip them apart. Then, it will be all my fault when they walk around like scarface.” I giggled at her. She always amused me when she was angry. I remembered the days I used to calm her down when she was mad. We were a good couple and always had each other's back, but I never felt that strong connection I was sharing with Merula when I was with Chiara. Merula was different somehow. “ Hey, calm down. Think about the time we sneaked in to Hufflepuff common room. “  
Her face lit up with a wide smile. “ Of course! Do you remember The Fat Friars face?”   
We both started cracking up recalling the moment. “ I do! His face was so precious when he found out we were lesbians.”  
I didn’t notice she was standing behind us when I heard Merula's sharp voice. “ Having fun calming the wolf girl, Claire?” I turned around to see her angry beautiful face. She was looking directly at Chiara.  
“ Why so bitter? You forgot to throw yourself into the Black Lake? Oh wait, you would never do a favor to anyone.”  
Merula's face became even more angry with Chiara's words. “ Stop, both of you. Chiara and I were talking Merula. Please don’t be ridiculous. “   
Her violet eyes turned to me and she wore her poker face. “ I couldn't care less, just be careful, this time Hospital Wing won't be where you end up.” I could tell she was trying to protect me, but Chiara took it as a threat.   
“ You ever threaten her again, I will show you where you end up, Snyde.” I held Chiara back. I knew she could be strong, but now it wasn’t the full moon and Merula was powerful, she wouldn’t hesitate to harm Chiara. “ Stop! Merula, give us a moment and I will have a word with you.” I dragged Chiara away and waited for her to start talking. “ It's nothing really. I just wanted to apoligze after what happened to you. I wish I could protect you back there.”  
I shook my head. “ No, Chiara. I don’t need protection. I was distracted and there was nothing you could do to stop it. Stop blaming yourself.”   
“ I will see you later then. Just be careful around Snyde. She is acting extra weird lately.” I rolled my eyes. “ Don’t worry about her. “   
When I started walking towards Merula, she never gave away any sign of emotion. Just her and her mesmirazing poker face. “ Do you want to tell me why you are creeping on me?” She frowned. “ Stop trating me like I am a loser jealous girlfriend that follows you like a lap dog. You know why. We need to be careful and I was going to train you. You were almost killed back there, remember?”   
“ Unfortunately, I remember, but you don’t have to follow me around, Merula. Nothing will happen to me. We are safe now.”   
She rolled her eyes at my words. “ Yeah, right. You look as if you are high as a kite, Alyssa. Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow I want to train you. Is it okay if I do?”   
I looked around the corridor to see if there was someone else but we were alone. I wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my face to her neck. I took a deep breath to let my nose get filled with her scent. She cupped my face and forced me to look at her. I could see how worried she really was for me. Her face moved closer to mine and she put a small kiss on my lips before she started kissing me harder. My head started spinning with her lips. She stopped kissing me before I literally lost myself.   
“ Oh, of course… I… will be ready tomorrow.” She looked in my eyes like I was the only one she ever saw. Her red cheeks started going even more red before we both drifted apart when we heard footsteps coming towards our way. She tried to keep her face normal . “ Okay then, Claire. See you tomorrow.” I gulped before nodding. 

At breakfast, I was already feeling much better. I couldn’t wait to train with Merula but first, I was going to study with Rowan and Skye. I needed to help Skye anyway and Rowan could help me perpare myself for the upcoming exams.  
At the library, I spent hours helping Skye with Charms and when I was finally done with her, she was ready. Rowan passed me her notes, so that I could catch up with the days I couldn’t attend the classes. I started to pack to leave. “ You seem in a hurry.” Skye was playing with her pen, watching me closely. She knew I was going to see Merula and she was going to torture me beside Rowan.  
“ Yeah, I will have a walk. It helps me to feel better.”   
“ Do you want me to come along?” Rowan asked. Skye giggled. “ I don’t think she wants company. A girl has her needs after all.”  
I rolled my eyes. “ Shut up Parkin, you know I like to have you around. Don’t make me cast the killing curse on you.”   
Her smile grew wider. “ I would like to see you try.”   
As I was walking away, Rowan whispered. “ You dropped something.” I turned around to see her holding a small piece of paper.  
“ That’s…” It must have been Merula. She couldn’t come up to me, so she probably left a note. “ Oh, yes. Thanks, Rowy.” I picked it up while Skye was blinking at me, letting me know that she knew who it was from. I looked at the note after making sure Rowan wasn’t aware of what was going on. Merula wanted to see me at the artifact room. It was the best hideout place for Penny and I to brew potions without getting disturbed. I rushed in to meet Merula. She was looking worried biting her nails.  
“ Finally. What happens? Are you alright?” I kept looking at her straight in the face, trying to get what was happening.   
“ What? You missed me so much that you decided to act like I called you here? That’s phatetic, even for you.” I chuckled. She rolled her violet eyes.   
“ Funny. Now seriously, are you alright? At least you could tell me why we are meeting here?”  
“ What do you mean? You called me here.” Her face looked confused. “ I didn’t. You left the note in my bag. Stop fucking around.”   
“ Merula, for the last time, I didn’t. What the hell is happening?” If she didn’t leave that note to me, then who did?  
“ The note only said that I needed to come here, it didn’t have your name, so I assumed it was you and here you are.”  
I grabbed the note and showed it to Merula. She sighed.  
“ Oh, fuck.” I was about to ask her what the hell was going on, but before I could do that, the artifact room's door slammed open. Tulip Karasu was standing with her face looking like she saw a stinky, massive troll standing in front of her.   
“ I. will.be. damned. I knew it.” She said with a smirk on her face while Merula and I kept staring at each other with desperation in our eyes. We were totally, irreversibly and undeniably screwed .


End file.
